135
ON THE ENGRAVED PORTRAITS AND PRETENDED PORTRAITS OF MILTON.
By John Fitchett Marsh, Esq.
READ SBD MAY, 1860.
While volumes have heen written on the portraits of Shakespeare, the information obtainable respecting those of Milton is confined to a few scattered notes of his biographers and commentators, the most copious account being one in Todd's Life, copied, with some additions, from Mr. Warton's note to Milton's Greek epigram, " In effigiei ejus sculptorem." The reason for this scarcity of information is not that less is known of the portraits of our greatest epic, than of those of our greatest dramatic poet, but that, on the contrary, more being known, less has been left to con jecture ; but, unfortunately, the existing materials have been so used by successive commentators each adopting and adding to the mistakes of his predecessors as to produce an amount of confusion from which it is my hope to assist in extricating the subject. The objects I propose to myself in the present paper are, to examine the relation in which the usually received portraits stand to each other, to collect the scattered notices of them, and thus to render them available for the illustration of a connected series of representations of the poet's features. It is of ENGRAVED PORTRAITS only that I propose to treat, having no opportunities for making myself acquainted with the original pictures and drawings. The extent of the materials for a catalogue is greater than perhaps would be generally supposed : for while Granger's list comprises 37 portraits, Bromley's only 25, and Evans's 42, I have been enabled not only to compile a catalogue of 161, but to produce upwards of 150 for your inspection. The portrait painted at the age of ten, now in the possession of Mr. Disney; that at the age of twenty-one, purchased from the executor of Milton's widow by Speaker Onslow; the print engraved by Marshal, for the first edition of the minor poems, in 1645 ; and that prefixed to the 136 'first edition of the History of Britain, inscribed " Gul. Faithorne ad vivum " delin. et sculpsit, 1670," at the age of 62, form a series of unquestionable authenticity, taken at various periods of the Poet's life, and presenting such marked difference of feature as to create no risk of mistake or con fusion among them. Their peculiarities and history will be more fitly noticed when we come to describe them in detail; but the name of Faithorne has been so unwarrantably mixed up with the mistakes and falsifications which I shall presently have to expose, that it will be con venient, before proceeding further, to describe the characteristics by which his celebrated engraving, and the large number of portraits derived from it, may be distinguished. If, in doing this, I say little about expression and features, it is because they are more easily conveyed to the mind by actual inspection than described by words, and because the caprice or incompetence of engravers may readily produce such a variation in them as effectually to disguise the source from which their subject has been derived; whereas peculiarities of dress and attitude, though in some respects secondary considerations, are usually found so persistently pre served as to furnish satisfactory evidence of a common origin. The Faithorne engraving, then, may be distinguished by the following charac teristics : The face is turned in the same direction as the bust. There is a broad Genevan band, * the nearer hulf of which lies quite straight, and the other half falls in several folds, beneath which is seen a tassel.
* As we shall have to mention the distinguishing costumes of the various portraits, it will be well to explain the sense in which several terms are used, especially as the name of the modern academic badge connects the idea of " bunds", in popular estima tion, ruther with the Genevan band here referred to than with the article of dress to which the term " band" was originally applied. The circular ruff, with its ample plaits, is familiar to us in the portraits of Queen Elizabeth's courtiers. In the succeeding reign (see J'lanche on Bnt'tsh Cosf.ume, ed. 1847, p. 350), " the ruff was occasionally " exchanged for a wide stiff collar, standing out horizontally and squarely, made of the " same stuff, and starched and wired as usual, but plain instead of plaited or pinched, "and sometimes edged, like the ruff, with laco: these collars were called 'Bands'" from which conies the term " band-box" and Fairholt in the Glossary to his History of Costume defines the BAND as " a collar of linen or cambric, surrounding the neck, " and which was stiffened with starch, or underpropped; or else allowed to fall npon the " shoulders, when it was termed a 'falling-bund'." The Janssen portrait and that de scribed in tlie Gent. Mag. so closely resembling it (No. 4) furnish excellent illustrations of the " baud" and "falling-band" respectively: it is an error to confound either one or the other with the " ruff." Deprived of their laced edges the sides cut away that they might not fall over the shoulder and the parts overhanging the chest cut square the transition is easy from the " falling-bands" to the " Geneva bands," which, Mr. Planche observes, are " like those worn by our modern clergymen and councillors, " except that instead of being two small pieces worn for distinction merely, they were " bona fide collars, the ends of which hung negligently out over the waistcoat." (p. 390.) For a fair specimen of the transition here spoken of see the print numbered 151. III. H. S. o» L. & C. Vot. XII.
No. 1. No. -t. Janssen's Portrait. Prom an Engraving by Portrait from " Gentleman's Magazine," Cipriani. vol. tvn.
No. 5. No. 21. The Onalow Portrait. From an Engraving Marshal's Engraving, 1B46. by Vertue.
1H7 The drapery, which falls so as to cover the vest except the two upper buttons, is drawn rather tight over the nearer shoulder. A thick fold, a little below, takes a direction more nearly approaching the horizontal; and below that, the edge or a thin fold of the material takes a peculiar curve from one side of the figure to the other. Leaving these distinctive marks to be borne in mind when we come to compare the portraits with which this original has been confounded, I will proceed! to notice the circumstances from which the confusion I refer to has arisen. Several applications seem to have been made to Deborah Clarke, Milton's youngest daughter, who survived him until the year 1727, for her opinion on the authenticity of supposed portraits of her father. The first is related in a letter from Vertue to Mr. Christian, the seal engraver, preserved in the British Museum,* and is as follows: " Mr. Christian Pray inform my Lord Harleyt that I have on Thursday " last seen the Daughter of Milton the Poet. I carry'd with me two or " three different Prints of Milton's picture which she immediately knew to " be like her father & told me her mother in Law (if | living in Cheshire) " had two pictures of him, one when he was a school boy & the other when " about § twenty. She knows of no other picture of him because she was " several years in Ireland both before & after his Death. She was the " youngest of Milton's daughters by his first wife and was taught to read " to her father several Languages. Mr. Addison was desirous to see her " once & desired she would bring with her Testimonials of her being " Milton's daughter. But as soon as she came into the Room he told her " she needed none, her face haveing much of the likeness of the pictures " he had seen of him. For my part I find the features of her Face very
« This letter lias been printed in the Gent. Mag. (1831); in the Memoirs of Thomas Hollis ; and in Ivimey's and Masson's Biographies, and perhaps elsewhere. In some of these the reference is to Hart. MSS. 7003, /. 17B, and in others to Add. MSS. 5lll6«, f. 71. The fact is that the former is the original letter, and the latter a transcript of it in the handwriting of Dr. Birch, which, though nearly accurate, has, from its not being quite so legible as the original, led to inaccuracies in subsequent copies. Having stumbled on this fact at the Museum, I took the trouble of collating the two manu scripts ; and the letter in the text is a literatim copy of the original. t Lord Henley. (Ivimey's Life of Milton, p. 320.) { The "if" is omitted in Birch's copy. Vertue had originally written "is," but altered it with the pen. The doubt expressed, though immaterial to our present purpose, is confirmatory of observations I have made elsewhere on the indifference with which Milton's widow was spoken of by his family, § " Above" in Birch's copy. 138 "much like the Prints. I showd her the Painting I have to engrave " which she believes not to be her Father's picture, it being of a Brown " complexion & black hair & curled locks on the contrary he was of a " fair complexion a little red in his cheeks & light brown lanck hair. I " desire you woud acquaint Mr. Prior I was so unfortunate to wait on him " on Thursday morning last just after he was gone out of Town it was " with * this intent, to enquire of him if he remembers a picture of Milton " in the late Lord Dorsett's collection as I am told this f was or if he " can inform me how I shall enquire or know the truth of this affair. I " shoud be much obliged to him being very willing to have all certainty " on that account before I begin to engrave the Plate that it may be the " more satisfactory to the Publick as well as to my self. The sooner you " can communicate this the better because I have to resolve which " I cant well do till I have an answer, which will much oblige, Your " Friend to command, Geo. Vertue. Saturday, Aug. 12, 1721. To Mr. " Charles Christian." The elder Richardson, in his "Explanatory Notes and Remarks on "Milton's 'Paradise Lost,'" published in 1734, inserted an etching "from " an excellent original in crayons," in his possession, and which he states in his introduction (p. ii.) he had reason to believe Milton sat for not long before his death. In a subsequent passage (p. xxxvi.) he relates, as an evidence of Deborah Clarke's tender remembrance of her father, that " this picture in crayons was shewn her after several others, or which were " pretended to be his. When those were shewn, and she was asked if she " could recollect if she had ever seen such a face, ' No, no'; but when this " was produced, in a transport ' 'Tis my father 'tis my dear father " I see him 'tis him ;' and then she put her hands to several parts of her " face ' Tis the very man here here.'" In the " Memoirs of Thomas Hollia," edited in 1780 by Archdeacon Blackburne, is inserted a print drawn and etched by Cipriani, from a portrait in crayons in the possession of Messrs. Tonson, which, at p. 619, is described as "a drawing in crayons by William Faithorne, now in the
* " With" omitted in Birch's copy. + " As I am told there was" (Ivimcy's Life of Milton, p. 329.) The difference in the sense is considerable ; but the history of a portrait which turned out not to repre sent Milton is unimportant, except so far ns it bears on the discussion respecting the Cooper miniature, to be mentioned hereafter. PIATB IV. H. S. nr L. & C. VOL. XJI.
No. 24. No. 64.
Faithorne's Engraving, 1670. Cipriani's Engraving after Tonson's Crayon Drawing.
No. 6?. No. 70. Richardson's Etching from his Crayon Simon's folio Mezzotint after Robert Drawing, 1734. White. T 139 " hands of Messrs. Tonson, booksellers, in London;" and it is related that " about the year 1725 Mr. George Vertue, a worthy and eminent " British antiquary, went on purpose to see Mrs. Deborah Clarke, Milton's " youngest and favorite daughter, and some time his amanuensis, who then " lodged in a mean little street near Moorfields, where she kept a school " for children for her support. He took this drawing with him, and divers " paintings said to be of Milton, all which were brought into the room " by his contrivance, as if by accident, whilst he conversed with her. She " took no notice of the paintings ; but when she perceived the drawing she " cried out, ' O Lord ! that is the picture of my father how came you by "it?' And, streaking the hair of her forehead, added 'Just so my father " wore his hair.' This daughter resembled Milton greatly." There is no excuse for confounding the first of these three alleged visits to Deborah Clarke when, after confirming the authenticity of several prints produced by Vertue, she condemned a painting which it was the special object of his visit to shew her with the interview related by Richardson, when his crayon drawing was shewn her by some person unnamed, and recognized with apparent emotion after she had failed to recognize the likeness of others. The third interview, as related in, Hollis's Memoirs, is full of inconsistencies, which it will be more con venient to notice in another place. What I here wish to observe is, that Hollis's biographer, in alluding to Tonson's crayon drawing attributed to Faithorne, in no manner connects it with Richardson's; nor does Richardson attribute his own crayon drawing to Faithorne, or mention Vertue as the person who shewed it to Deborah Clarke. In fact, though Cipriani's pencil has taken sad liberties with the expression, the Tonson drawing, as represented by him, has the attitude and costume identifying it with the Faithorne engraving ; and is likely enough to have been Faithorne's original drawing in crayons a mode of execution he is known to have adopted. (See Walpole's Catalogue of Engravers, 1st cd., p. 58.) With Richardson's etching it has no one point of identity. In the latter the countenance is more upturned than in Faithorne's engraving; and the position of the head is such that the left shoulder and right cheek are nearest to the spectator; the collar, not at all partaking of any of the forms of a band, has the ends separating from each other at something less than a right angle, with cord and tassels between, the sides also approaching to straight lines; and the drapery falls from both shoulders so 140 as to form an angle a little to the right of the buttons, of which a row of five is exposed. But notwithstanding these marked distinctions, or rather this total absence of any point of similarity, the mention of two crayon drawings in connection with visits to Milton's daughter has led to a series of mistakes. Bishop Newton, at p. Ivi. of his life of Milton (Baskerville edition, 1759), in a short notice containing another glaring mistake which I need not stop to point out, confounds them by speaking of the " portrait " in crayons, drawn when Milton was about sixty-two, and which was " in the collection of Mr. Richardson, but has since been purchased by " Mr. Tonson." This may be literally true; for Richardson's drawing, as well as the other, may have eventually come into the possession of Tonson : but the statement is not the less calculated to mislead. Accordingly Warton gets deeper into the error, for he not only states, in his note at p. 530 (ed. 179J), that Faithorne's original engraving, which he had stated in the preceding page to be from a drawing in crayons, " was copied by " Vertue, one of his chief works, in 1725," (though I shall endeavour to shew presently that Vertue's portrait of that date had a common origin with Richardson's etching, and little in common with Faithorne,) but in the following page he states that " the Richardsons, and next the Tonsons, " had the admirable crayon drawing above mentioned, done by Faithorne, " the best likeness extant, and for which Milton sate at the age of "sixty-two;" and after quoting, in relation to the same drawing, the interview between Vertue and Deborah Clarke, as told in Hollis's memoirs, adds, " This head by Faithorne was etched by Richardson, the father, about " 1784, with the addition of a laurel crown to help the propriety of the "motto." Symmons repeats the error (pp. 515, 531, 1st ed.): and to make confusion worse confounded, Todd adopts verbatim the language of Warton, but adds that the drawing successively in the possession of Richardson and Tonson was then in the possession of Mr. Baker, who had allowed an engraving to be made from it for Todd's work. On turning, however, to the engraving last referred to, we find it to be without one point of identity with Faithorne or Cipriani's portraits, but with such marks of a common origin with Richardson's as I shall presently explain. Lastly, Mr. Cunningham, in a note to his edition of Johnson's " Lives of " the Poets" (I. 131), says "The best portrait of Milton is that drawn " and engraved by Faithorne, prefixed to Milton's ' History of Britain,' " 1670, 4to : Faithorne's original drawing is preserved, with other portraits H. S. OF L. & C. VOL. XII.
No. 92.
Anonymous Etching, attributed to Miller's Engraving for Tonson's Richardson. Baskervllle Kdition, 17Bt).
No. 94.
Engraving from Mr. Baker's Crayon Engraving for Heptingstall's Edition, Prawing, for Todd's Edition, 1601. 1799.
141 " belonging to Tonson, including the Kit-kat collection, at Bayfordbury, " near Hertford, the seat of Mr. Baker." I should create additional con fusion if I were to go on repeating these statements in the language of successive commentators; but the errors of all of them are so completely condensed in a paragraph of a dozen lines by Mr. Keightley, that I may as well quote it: "In 1670," he says, "was a portrait engraved by " Faithorne, from a crayon drawing by himself, with this legend, ' Gul. "'Faithorne sjd vivum delin. et sculpsit. Johannis Miltoni effigies. "'.iEtat. 62. 1670.' This engraving has been often copied, [he adds in " a footnote, " there is one by Cipriani in Hollis's Memoirs,"] but as it was " not in Faithorne's best manner, a new copy was made for the first edition " of Todd's Milton, from the original crayon drawing in the possession of " William Baker, Esq. This drawing had passed through the hands of " the Richardsons and Tonsons to those of Mr. Baker. It was at the " sight of this, when shewn to her by Vertue, the engraver, among other " paintings and engravings, that Deborah Clarke made the exclamation " above related. All the best portraits of Milton are taken from it." (Keightley's Life of Milton, p. 132.) I have seen none of the drawings: but if the slightest reliance is to be placed upon the engravings, a glance at those published by Richardson, from the crayon drawing in his posses sion by Hollis, from the crayon drawing in the possession of the Tonsons (and likely enough, as I have stated, to have been Faithorne's original drawing) and by Todd, from the drawing in the possession of Mr. Baker, would have shewn how distinct each was from the other, whatever of common origin there may have been between the first and third. It seems to me a most extraordinary fact, that a careless statement of Bishop Newton, upwards of a century ago, so far from being detected, should have gone on accumulating error as it passed through successive hands until the present time, without one of the gentlemen quoted thinking it necessary to compare the published portraits which they thus hastily assumed to have been engraved from a common original. In one instance it is curious to watch the effect of the mistake while two disputants are playing at cross purposes on the subject. In the discussion to which I shall have to make more particular reference in speaking of the Cooper miniature, and in which Sir Joshua Reynolds, under the signature of " R. J.," discussed with Lord Hailes its pretensions to be accepted as a portrait of Milton, the former writes (Gent. May., LXI, 603): " In regard to the drop serene we 142 " can assure your correspondent that it is not visible in the miniature, and " that he is mistaken in saying that it is visible in the crayon picture by " Paithorne." Lord Hailes replies (p. 886) with sarcastic ingenuity : " It " is said that the gutta serena, or rather its consequence, is not visible in " Faithorne's drawing of Milton. I never saw it; but I supposed that it " represented Milton as blind, because Richardson's etching represented " him so : and if Richardson has misled me, I must regret that I put my " trust in a painter and connoisseur." The explanation is obvious. Reynolds, whether speaking from a knowledge of the crayon drawing in the possession of the Tonsons, from Cipriani's copy from it, or from Faithorne's engraving, was justified in describing it as giving no indication of Milton's blindness; whereas Hailes, imagining that he was speaking of the same drawing, had reference to Richardson's etching from another, one of the special merits of which was its rendering of the peculiar expres sion arising from the gutta serena, on which subject some observations of Richardson are quoted below. What, then, was the "excellent original in crayons" from which Richardson made his etching in 1734, and which was recognized by Deborah Clarke as so striking a likeness of her father ? In considering this question I have been led to attach an unexpected degree of importance to a folio mezzotint, inscribed " R. White ad vivum delin. J. Simon fecit," the precise date of which I have been unable to ascertain. I am told it is a rare print, though I find it marked at a trifling price in Evans's cata logue, but I was not aware of its rarity until after I had discovered its importance. I have seen no copy except my own. There is none in the British Museum ; and it is not mentioned either in Granger or Bromley. Bryan, also, in his Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, fails to particu larize it among Simon's works ; but his editor, Stanley, mentions Milton's among the heads engraved by that artist: What I here wish particularly to remark, with reference to this portrait, is its exact correspondence with Richardson's etching of 1734. The former continues the drapery lower down the figure, so as, in fact, to constitute a half length ; but with this exception, and the wholly unimportant one of the portrait being reversed, every word of the description I have given of Richardson's etching is precisely applicable to Simon's mezzotint. The laureate wreath, however, with which, in both, the head is encircled, and which at first seemed one of the most satisfactory points of identity, presents a difficulty : the elucida- 143 tion of it will depend in a great measure on the date of Simon's print, which I have not yet been able to ascertain. Bichardson expressly says (p. ii.) : " The laurel wreath is not in the picture ; the two lines under it "are my reason for putting it there not what otherwise would be " imagined : all the world has given it him long since." The presence of the laurel wreath in both prints cannot be explained away as a coinci dence : for leaf by leaf, with the exception of a single leaf inserted in Simon's (the highest of the further branch), but omitted in Richardson's, the one wreath is a servile copy of the other. If, then, Simon's mezzotint was published previous to 1734, how comes it that Richardson, thus proved to have been familiar with it, avoids all allusion to it, asserts the wreath to be his own idea, and does not attribute the " excellent original," which he says he " has reason to believe Milton sate for not long before his death," either to Robert White or to any other artist by name ? If Simon's print was published subsequent to 1734, the identity of the wreaths proves him to have been the copyist; and if so, on what evidence did he inscribe his print with " R. White ad vivum delineavit ?" These questions I am compelled to leave unanswered. Internal evidence would tend to the conclusion that Simon's had priority in date, from the fact that the con tinuation of the folds, as above noticed, accounts for the direction of the lines of drapery in Richardson's etching, which are otherwise unmeaning. The truth is worth arriving at, if possible.* The result would probably affect the question whether there is good ground for retaining the uamo of White as the original artist, as I have ventured to do below for distinc tion's sake : but it would leave untouched the fact that the two prints had a common origin in a portrait, the veracity of which was confirmed by the best authority that of Milton's daughter.
* The only clue I am aware of is the names of the two firms of publishers " sold " by T. Bowles in Paul's Church-yard and J. Bowles in Cornliill." The period during which these two firms existed contemporaneously might possibly be ascertained ; but it would only enable us to ascertain the minimum antiquity of the print; for one of our most eminent printsellers tells me he has an impression of having seen it with an earlier imprint than that of the firms of Bowles. The date of 1738 is assigned by Bromley to a folio mezzotint of Pope by J. Faber, from a picture painted by Kneller in 1721, which is stated to be " printed for Thos. Bowles in St. Paul's Churchyard, and John Bowles " and Son at the Black Horse in Cornhill." Simon's folio mezzotint of Shakespeare, from a picture attributed to Zonst, is supposed by Boaden and Wivell to have been pub lished in or nbout 1725; and his folio mezzotint of Pope, from a painting by Dahl, is dated by Bromley L728 ; but the first was by another publisher, and the second has no publisher's name. Bowles of the Black Horse is repeatedly mentioned in connection with the life of Hogarth; see the papers in the first vol. of the Cornhill Magazine. 144 I consider the same original to have been the source from which, with more or less artistic license, were derived Vertue's celebrated head of 1725; I. Vandergucht's folio; another engraving by Vertue, greatly altered in expression and costume, in 1750 ; and lastly, an engraving by Miller, inserted in an edition of Newton's Milton, published by the Tonsons in 1759, and of which I consider the original is likely enough to have been the drawing which passed from the possession of the Tonsons to Mr. Baker, as stated by Todd and Cunuingham, or at least another drawing from the same original. All these portraits will be duly described below, and treated (to borrow a phrase from physical science) as typical forms, in connection with which I have thought it desirable to arrange the various prints to which they have respectively given rise. That all these are trustworthy representations of our great poet I am far from asserting. On the contrary, the extent to which various engravers have departed from the originals they professed to copy is absurd enough ; but I have treated them as authentic to this extent, that their origin can be traced directly or remotely to portraits the history of which is satisfactorily shewn, or which have been vouched by the family of the poet. To these succeed the prints which have been derived from monuments, busts and seals. There remain a remarkable variety of portraits, which have been published with the name of Milton, some of which may be others cannot possibly be and none, in my opinion, are satisfactorily proved to be from pictures intended to represent him. The history of these portraits, or pretended portraits, will more conveniently be noticed when we come to describe them; and I will now proceed with my cata logue in the order I have indicated. JANSSEN'S PORTBAIT. The name of this artist has been given by common consent though I know not on what authority, prior to that of Cipriani, except the judgment of .connoisseurs to the picture referred to by Aubrey, in his notes written shortly after Milton's death (p. 337 in Godwin's reprint): " A° Dnl 1619 " he was ten yeares old as by his picture and was then a poet: his school " master then was a Puritan in Essex who cutt his haire short," that is not his own hair, but the hair of his pupil, as explained by Professor Masson (p. 51, n.). It was one of the pictures which remained in the possession of Milton's widow until her death in 1727, and were enumerated 145 in the testamentary inventory of hrr effects, which I had the pleasure of bringing under the notice of the Historic Society in 1855. On the 3rd of June, 1760, it was purchased by Mr. Hollis, at the sale by auction of tlie effects of Mr. Charles Stanhope, who had mentioned to him, about two months before, that he had bought it of the executors of Milton's widow for twenty guineas. (Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, p. 95.) Warton men tions that the price at which it was purchased at Stanhope's sale was thirty-one guineas, and that Lord Harrington wishing to have the lot returned, Mr. Hollis replied that his lordship's whole estate should not repurchase it. (Warton, p. 530 n., ed. 1791.) It was this picture which Mr. Hollis was so careful to preserve on the occasion of his lodgings being on fire a few months subsequent to his purchase. The story is told in his memoirs, p. 106. The picture passed, with the other antiquities and curiosities collected by Mr. Hollis, to Mr. Thomas Brand Hollis, who left them by will to his friend Dr. Disney, and is now in the possession of his grandson, Edgar Disney, Esq., of the Hyde, near Ingatestone. It is described by Professor Masson as about twenty-seven inches by twenty in size, with the frame, the portrait set in a dark oval, and with the words "John Milton, tetatis suae 10, Anno 1618" inscribed on the paint in con temporary characters, but no painter's name. This minuteness of descrip- J0' tion is important with reference to another portrait, to be mentiofied shortly, which has been confounded with the present one. The engraving from Mr. Disney's picture was that published in Hollis s memoirs :
1. lohn Milton. Drawn and etched MDCCLX by I. B. Cipriani, a Tuscan, from a picture painted by Cornelius Johnson MDCXVIII, now in the possession of Thomas Hollis, of Lincoln's Inne, F.R. and A.SS. Portrait enclosed in an oval wreath of roses ; and below, as in all the prints engraved under the direction of the Hollises, their favorite device of the Cap of Liberty. (See Dibdin'i Lib. Com. 555 n.) Subjoined are some lines from "Paradise Regained," which Professor Mnsson con siders were really written by the poet with some reference to his own recollections of himself as a child : " When I was yet a child, no childish play To me was pleasing," &c. The print is mentioned in Granger and Bromley. 2. lohn Milton. .£tat. 10. From an original picture in the collection of Thomas Brand Hollis, Esq., near the Hyde, Essex. Cornelius Janscn pinxit. 146
W. N. Gardiner sculp.; an oval, 0.2x5.9 » in plate, 9.8x6.7; published June 4, 1794, by John and Josiah Boydell and George Nicol, in the sumptuous edition of the Poetical Works, in 3 vols. royal folio, known as Boydell's Milton. 3. Milton. jEtat. 10. After a photograph from the original picture, in the possession of Edgar Disney, Esq., of the Hyde, Ingatestone, Essex; engraved by Edward Radclyffe; a beautiful line engraving, forming one of the illustrations to the first volume of Masson's Life of Milton. 4. Anon. An engraving almost in outline, forming an illustration to the " Gentleman's Magazine" (1787), vol. Ivii, p. 759, in which is printed a letter signed " Z. Z.," dated from Oxford, and sending the drawing from which this is engraved, and which it states " a friend, who lives there, has obligingly suffered to be taken "from a picture in his possession. It is on wood. At top is 'A° 1023. JEt. snte "'12.' In the hands of the figure is a book with 'Homer's Iliads' on the leaves. " The hair is red. This drawing is very like, only perhaps somewhat older than " the picture." A correspondent, at p. 892 of the same volume, points out the identity of the portrait with that engraved by Cipriani in Hollis's Memoirs adds that the datee correspond (which, however, is not the case) and signs his com munication " Q. E. D." This is getting on rather too fast, for it is evident there were two portraits in existence; but though, in addition to the discrepancies apparent from the above notice, the sketchy outline of the print shews a marked difference in costume (the square-fronted erect band of Mr. Disney's portrait being replaced by a falling-band of similar pattern +), the resemblance in feature between the two portraits is too close to have been the result of accident. That a copy of the original picture should have been taken while it was in the possession either of Mrs. Milton, her executor, Mr. Stanhope, or Mr. Hollis, is improbable, and we are driven to the conjecture either that the painter of Mr. Disney's portrait (whether Janssen or some one else) was tainted with a mannerism which would deprive his pictures of all claim to individuality, or that, being employed to paint another portrait of the young scholar at the age of twelve he had made free use of his original picture. This supposition would still leave an error of at least two years unaccounted for, if the date 1623 be correctly printed in the "Gentleman's Maga- " zine," and I scarcely dare offer it even as a conjecture: but if it should turn out to be correct, it would follow that there may yet be in existence an almost unknown portrait of Milton, with better claims to authenticity than some which have had their pretensions more loudly asserted. THE ONSLOW POETBAIT. By this name is known the other of the two portraits enumerated in the inventory of Mrs. Milton's effects. Warton (p. 530, ed. 1791) says, that
* The measurements are throughout in inches and tenths, t See note on Ruffs and Bands, ante. U7 " by some it is suspected not to be a portrait of Milton." By whom sus pected, or on what grounds, I know not. There are few portraits with a better authenticated pedigree. Its existence, iu the custody of Mrt,. Milton, was known to Aubrey, who wrote in 1681 (p. 337 of Godwin's reprint): " His widowe has his picture drawne (very well and like) when " a Cambridge schollar: she has his picture when a Cambridge schollar, " which ought to be engraven ; for the pictures before his bookes" [alluding to Marshal's in ,1645 and Faithorne's in 1670] " are not at all like him : " and made a memorandum (p. 345,) to "write his name in red letters on "his picture with his widowe to preserve." In 1721 Deborah Clarke informed Vertue (see his letter above) that her mother-in law, if living, in Cheshire, had two pictures of him, one when he was a school-boy, and the other when he was about twenty. In 1731, only four years after Mrs. Milton's death, we find it in the possession of Mr. Speaker Onslow, and engraved by Vertue ; and as late as 1794 it was stated in the inscription to the engraving in Boydell's Milton to be " in the possession of Lord " Onslow, at Clandon, in Surrey, purchased from the executor of Milton's " widow by Arthur Onslow, Esq., Speaker of the House of Commons, as " certified in his own handwriting on the back of the picture." It is mentioned by Professor Masson (vol. I, p. 278) that the picture is not now in the possession of the present Earl of Onslow. The information I have obtained as to its history since it left his lordship's custody and present place of deposit is such as I do not feel warranted in making public It is much to be desired that this relic should find a permanent resting place beside the Chandos Shakespeare in the National Portrait Gallery. It seems to have been known to Warton, who observes that " the picture "is handsomer tban the engravings, and that the ruff is much in the neat "style of painting ruffs about and before 1628." The engravings from it are numerous : 5. Joannes Milton. jEt. 21. Vertue, sc. Ex pictura arclietypa qua penea est prsehonorabilem Artuurum Onslow, Arm: Vertue sc. 1731. 4to. I extract this description from Granger, having been unlucky in not meeting with a copy. He mentions that it differs from the next described only in the inscription. Bromley also mentions it. 6. Joannes Milton. jEtatis XXI. G. Vertue sculp. 1731; in a square panel, with ornamented top, surmounting and partly concealing the top and sides of an oval. The name and age are on two ribands below, between which is a circular escutcheon charged with a single-headed eagle (in which Vertue's heraldic know- 148
ledge was at fault, for the eagle borne by Milton was double-headed, as proved by his two seals *), and beneath is a pedestal, on the two ends of which stand busts of Homer and Virgil; and on the front is inscribed " Nascuntur Poete, non fiunt." Published in Bentley's edition of " Paradise Lost," 4to, London, 1732. Mentioned in Granger and Bromley. 7. The same plate, with Dryden's lines substituted for the " Nascuntur Poetse, "non fiunt," and the date badly altered from 1731 to 1747, is prefixed to Newton's edition of "Paradise Lost," 2 vols. 4to, London, 1749, which Hollis's biographer (see p. 117) supposed to be the original condition of the plate. 8. loannes Milton. yEtatis suee 21. G. Vertue sculp. An oval, with slight scroll ornament at top, and below a riband, with name and age, above a plinth; size of plate 6 X 3.8; published in Newton's edition of " Paradise Regained," 8vo. London, 1773 ; mentioned by Granger and Bromley. 9. John Milton. In the collection of the Eight Hon. Arthur Onslow, Esq. Speaker of the House of Common. I. Houbraken sculps. Ainst. 1741. Iinpensis I. & P. Knapton, London, 1741. An oval, representing masonry, inscribed with name; at foot a pedestal; and in front of it ornaments consisting of a lyre sur mounted by cherub head, a book, serpent with apple, &c.; size of plate 14.2 X 8.9. One of the series of folio plates known as Houbraken's heads; mentioned by Granger and Bromley. 10. Joannes Milton, jEtatis XXI. Andrew'Miller fecit, Dublin, 1744; a copy of the last in mezzotint, including the ornaments, but reversed; and on the pedestal the motto " Nascuntur Poetfe, non fiunt;" size of plate 13.6 X 10.1. 11. lohn Milton. Drawn and etched MDCCLX by I. B. Cipriani, a Tuscan, at the desire of Thomas Hollis, F.B. and A.SS., from a picture in the collection of the Eight Hon. Ardrar Onslow, Speaker of the Commons House of Parliament. Portrait enclosed in an oval, formed by intertwining boughs of laurel, and below Milton's sonnet " How soon hath time," &c. The print is mentioned by Granger and Bromley, and forms one of the series in Hollis's Memoirs. 12. John Milton. In the collection of the Right Hon. Arthur Onslow, Esq., Goldar sculpt. Some further lettering has been badly erased. An oval, in a rectangular frame of tooth and egg pattern; size of frame 7.5 X 6.4. 13. John Milton. Published by R. Baldwin, at the Eose, in Pater Noster Eow, 1752, for the London Magazine. An oval, representing masonry of four voussoirs, with name inscribed, and resting on a plinth; size of plate 5.7x4.1. 14. John Milton. An oval, representing masonry of six voussoirs, with seg ments cut off at top, bottom, and sides; no plinth; name at foot; size of plate 4.7 X 3.7 ; in the fifth volume of the British Biography, published by Baldwin, 7 vols., 8vo, London, 1706-72.
* See Masson's Life, vol. i., p. 4. 149
15. John Milton. In same plate with Algernon Sydney, John Hamilen, and Andrew Marvel; four ovals, in slightly ornamented frames, connected by inter lacing ornament; size of each frame 2.5 x 1.8. 16. John Milton. In same plate with Ben Johnson, Eobert Boyle, Esq., and John Locke, Esq.; four plain ovals, 2 X 1.8; I. June sc. 17. lohn Milton. wEtat. 21. From an original picture in the possession of Lord Onslow, at- Clandon, in Surrey, purchased from the executors of Milton's widow by Arthur Onslow, Esq., Speaker of the House of Commons, as certified in his own handwriting on the back of the picture; an oval, 0.2 X 5.9, in plate, 9.8 x 0.7; W. N. Gardiner sculpt.; published June 4, 1794, by John and Josiah Boydell and George Nicol; in Boydell's Milton. 18. John Milton. .Stat. XXI. Woolnoth sc. 19. Anon. Cornelius JansenI W. C. Edwards. J. Yates, Printer. London, John Macrone, St. James's Square, and E. Graves, King William Street, Strand. In Macrone's edition, edited by Sir Egerton Brydges. The assigning of the picture to Cornelius Janssen has arisen from confounding its history with that of the portrait first described : the artist is wholly unknown. 20. Milton, eetat. 21. Engraved by Edward Eadclyffe, after Vertne's engraving in 1731, from the original picture, then in the possession of the Right Hon. Speaker Onslow ; in Masson's Life of Milton. MARSHAL'S ENGRAVING. This portrait, which appeared in Humphrey Moseley's original edition of Milton's poems, in 1645, is one of considerable rarity and importance. It was the subject of the Greek epigram " In effigiei ejus sculptorem," in which the poet gave vent to his dissatisfaction with the manner in which Marshal had executed his task. Whether the complaint was directed against the coarseness of the engraving, or the unfavorable representation of Milton's personal appearance, is a point which, though it has given rise to some discussion, is not of much importance ; for it is generally believed that Marshal was the designer as well as engraver of the head; and the term " ^wypa^oc" in the epigram is applicable to him in either capacity, Horace Walpole says that Marshal was " employed by Moseley, the book- " seller, to grave heads for books of poetry; and from their great similarity "in drawing and ornaments Vertue supposed that he drew from the life, " though he has not expressed ad vivum as was the custom afterwards; and " he was confirmed in this conjecture by a print of Milton, at the age of "21, with which Milton, who was handsome, and Marshal but a coarse " engraver, seems to have been discontented, by some Greek lines that are 150 " added to the bottom of the plate. Vertue adds that from this to 1670 " he knows no engraving of Milton, when Faithome executed one with " ad vivum delineavit et sculpsit; and this Vertue held for the most " authentic likeness of that great poet, and thought Marshal's and Faith- " orne's bore as much resemblance as could be expected between features " of 21 and 62." (Walpoles Catalogue of Engravers, \st ed., p. 38.) The fact just noticed, namely, that this print was the only engraved portrait by which Milton's supposed features were known to the public between 1645 and 1670 a period which embraced nearly the whole range of his con troversial writings invests it with an importance far beyond its merits. Salmasius, in a passage in his " Defensio Regia," quoted by Walpole and Warton, applies to it the epithet of "comptulam"; but this could only have been meant to apply to the dress. The features would rather seem to have justified some of the terms in which the same author, in his posthumous work " Ad Joannem Miltonum Responsio" attributes to Milton " froutem ferream, cor plumbeum, animum improbum, rnalam linguam, " stylum atrocem." (Responsio, p. 2). The same impression as is iudicated by the epithet "comptulam" led the author of " Regii sanguinis clamor" to taunt him with being a Narcissus ; to \\hich Milton, in a passage in his " Defensio pro se," also partly quoted by Warton, replies : " Narcissus " nunc sum, quia te depiugente nolui Cyclops esse; quia tu effigiem niei " dissimillimam, prefixam poematis, vidisti. Ego vero si impulsu et anibi- " tione librarii me imperito scalptori, propterea quod in urbe alius eo belli " tempore non erat, infabre scalpendum permisi, id me neglexisse potiua " earn rem arguebat, cujus tu mihi nimiuin cultum objicis." (Prose Works, ed. 1698, vol. 3, p. 123.) This passage goes far towards settling the question as to the date of the portrait. The engraving is spoken of as having been executed " eo belli tempore" applicable to the date of its pub lication ; and no hint is given of its having been engraved, as Warton assumes, from some earlier drawing or painting in 1629, so as to justify the inscription of "Anno .SCtatis Vigess: Pri:". The apparent age, which in 1645 would be thirty-seven the generally received opinion that Mar shal's prints were usually from the life and the passage from Milton's " Defensio pro se," in which he accounts for the badness of the likeness by a reason which, though valid in relation to an original portrait in 1645, could have no reference to an earlier one then copied, combine to shew that in assigning the age of twenty-one to his print Marshal was as reck- 151 less of dates as of resemblance to his original. I have only one conjecture to offer towards explaining away the difficulty. Though it is impossible, comparing the Marshal with the Onslow portrait, to treat the one as a copy of the other, it is possible that Marshal may have been allowed access to the Onslow portrait to aid him in the absence of the sitter ; and the adop tion of the date which actually belonged to the Onslow portrait may thus in some way have originated. The engravings may he described aa follows : , 21. loannis Miltoni Angli Effigies Anno jEtatis Vigess: Pri : (inscribed round an oval) W. M. Sculp. In the background an Arcadian scene ; and in the four corners, outside the oval, the Muses Melpomene, Erato, Urania, and Clio, with their names ; beneath, the Greek epigram : * 'A/iaQtl yiypafyQai \fipi rrivSe filv iiKova.
Tor & eKTViriarov oiit imyrovrfg,
Warton, in noticing this in a note to his first edition (p. 540), ndds that he is " not " sure if Vertue has not fallen into the same unlucky mistake." If so, I have not met with the print by Vertue to which he alludes; and from the passage being omitted in Warton's second edition, and an allusion substituted to Vertue's quota tion from the Odyssey, I presume the original observation was found to have been wiitten in error. FAITHOHNE'S ENGRAVING. The peculiarities of this portrait of Milton have been already sufficiently noticed. It is one of the "pictures before his books" condemned as not at all like him iu Aubrey's note ; but being the only likeness of the poet taken at mature age, and published in his lifetime, it has been more fre quently copied than any of the others. 24. loannis Miltoni Effigies jEtat. 02, 1G70, inscribed on the face of a low pedestal, on the top of which is " Gul. Foithorne ad vivum Delin. et sculpsit." The portrait is an oval, of 4.9 x 4.2 inside measure; and the entire plate forms a 4to, measuring 7 x 5.2; published, as before mentioned, in Milton's History of Britain, in the year it bears date. It is mentioned in Granger and Bromley; and a good impression of the plate in its original state is worth a couple of guineas. 25. Id. A modern copy of the preceding. The impressions are common ; but they are extremely coarse, and convey an idea of the features very different from the original engraving, which, however, is not in Fidtborne's best manner, and would not justify the compliment paid him by his friend Flatman, who gays: " A ' Foithome sculpsit' is a charm can save From dull oblivion and a gaping grave." 26. Joannis Miltoni Effigies Natns Anno 1808, Obiit Anno 1674. Gul. Faithorne ad vivum Delin. et sculpsit. The oval as in the former, but standing on a deep panelled surface, having in front Milton's arms and crest, so as to form a folio plate 8.5x6.2; in Toland's edition of the prose works, 1698. Each impression is, how ever, struck off from two plates; for which purpose the original, published in 1670, has been cut away immediately below the name of the engraver, and the oblique lines forming the ends of the upper surface of the pedestal erased, and the horizontal lines of shading continued to the edge of the plate. The fact of this alteration having been made shews that the modern impressions of the 4to plate are copies, and are not struck from the original plate worn and retouched. ' 87. loannis Miltoni Effigies jEtat. 62. 1670. A plate so much in Jaithorne's manner that it has the appearance of his plate cut down at the sides, and without the " Gul. Faithorne ad vivum delin. et sculpsit" on the top of the pedestal; but a closer inspection shews in every part, and especially by a reduction in the scale, that this is a copy. The entire plate measures 6.6 x 4.2, and the interior of the oval 4.4x3.9. In the sole catalogue of Sir Mark Sykes's collection (.1824) is 153 described a copy of the Faithorne print " before the plate was reduced." I am not aware that the plate ever was reduced, unless the removal of the lower portion for the purpose of the folio impressions can be so described ; and believe the compiler of the catalogue had derived his impression from a hasty inspection of the print now under description. 28. loannis Miltoni Effigies ^Etat. 63. 1671. W. Dolle sculpsit A copy, on a reduced scale, from Faithorne's 4to, and similar in all the arrangements; size of plate 5.1 x 3.1; published in the " Artis Logioee plenior Institutio," 12mo, London, 1672, and again ip the second edition of " Paradise Lost," in 1074, and the third in 1678; mentioned by Granger. 29. loannis Miltoni Effigies .£tat. 63. 1071. No name of engraver; a close copy of the last except in the features, the expression of which is considerably varied, and the plate is a trifle smaller each way. 80. Mr. John Milton obt. anno 1074, setnt. 60. I. Simon fecit. Mezzotint; oval, with a wavy fillet in the two upper corners ; size of plate 6.8 X 5. The only copy I have seen is in the print room of the British Museum, and it is believed to be a portion of the plate described in Bromley's catalogue as a mezzotint, one of four portraits, the others being Beaumont, Fletcher and Cowley : but the orna mentation is certainly different from those and other uniform portraits with which I am acquainted, published by Bowles in sets of four, by Simon and Faber, all of which are in ovals formed of palm branches. The folio mezzotint by Simon, already alluded to and hereafter to be described, must not be confounded with the present print, which is copied from the Faithorne portrait. 31. Anon. B. White sculp. Portrait in an oval formed of leaves and bold and peculiar scroll work; and at foot, in an ornamented panel, Dryden's hacknied lines, here published for the first time : " Three poets in three distant ages born," &c. Size of plate 10.5 X 7; published in the fourth edition of " Paradise tost," folio, London, 1088, and various subsequent editions; mentioned by Granger and Bromley. The costume and attitude proclaim this to be a copy of the Faithorne portrait; and the features do not vary from it so far as to suggest a doubt on the subject; but yet there is a marked change in them, consisting principally in an increased roundness in the lower part of the face, and less severity in the expres sion. Both these distinguishing features ore also to some extent observable in the folio mezzotint by Simon; and if the original of the latter was, as it purports to have been, a drawing from the life by Robert White, we may trace to the influence of his actual knowledge of Milton's features the slight deviation from the Faithorne engraving, of which that now under discussion is evidently a copy. 32. loannis Miltoni Effigies, ob. 1674, JEt. 66. G. Vertue sculp. Portrait in an oval, of which the sides are partly concealed by a kind of architrave, and the top by a curtain, looped up at the left corner by a loosely flowing fillet, and terminating 154
in a tassel on the right side. On the curtain are the poet's name and date of death as above, and in a framed panel at foot, within a peculiar scroll, Dryden's Hues. The plate appeared in Tonson's edition of the Poetical Works, in 2 vols, 4to, London, 1720; mentioned by Granger and Bromley; size 8.8x6.1. In this, as in the last described print, there is a softened expression, to be accounted for by Vertue's thorough acquaintance with all the representations of the features of Milton, and among others the drawing attributed to White, of which, I have come to the conclusion, Vertue made a more direct use in his portrait of 1723. 33. Joannes Milton. .lEtatis LXII. 1670. G. Vertue sculp. Closely resem bling the preceding, and probably an alteration of the same plate; the difference being that in the print now under description the lettering on the curtain is the name and age as above, and in the panel at foot Dryden's lines are replaced by a quotation from Homer's Odyssey, B. viii, 1. 63. printed in four lines : " Tbv mpi Mova' ttyl\r}at," &c. Published in Bentley's edition of " Paradise Lost," 4to, London, 1732 ; mentioned by Granger and Bromley. 34. The same plate, with the date altered to 1747, was prefixed to the second volume of Newton's edition of " Paradise Lost," 2 vols., 4to, London, 1749, which Hollis's Biographer (see p. 117) treats as the original condition of the plate. 35. Anon. J. Gwitn sculp. Size 5.6 x 3.7. In the arrangement of the portrait, curtain, and scroll-headed panel containing Dryden's lines, there is evidence of this plate having been copied from Vertue's first 4to print after Faithorne. It is a coarse but scarce print, and is found in Grierson's edition of the "Paradise Lost'* and "Paradise Begained," published in Dublin in 1724; but it has scarcely the appearance of having been engraved for the book, which is a 12uio, and the print has to be folded both ways to admit of its insertion. 36. Anon. G. Vertue sculp, (the G. and V. combined in one letter.) Eectangle; with Dryden's lines and the name " Dryden" at foot. Granger describes a portrait thus: " Milton; Vertue sc., sm. 12mo." There are several portraits prefixed to Tonsou's 12uio editions and elsewhere, so similar to each other, and to which Granger's description may be intended to refer, that a minute account of this and the two following prints may be desirable. The size of the engraving in the pre sent, exclusive of the lines, is 8.7 x 2.8 ; portrait facing towards its proper left; in third line " thought" printed without a capital, and " Surpas'd" with capital and one s in last syllable ; in fourth line no comma after " majesty"; in fifth "further " goe "; and in sixth "former two " in italics without capitals. 37. Same description except as follows: size 3.8x2.6; " Thought" with ca pital; " surpass'd " without capital; comma after "majesty"; " farther go"; "Two" in Roman letters and a capital T; no name of engraver. 38. Same description except as follows: size 3.7 x 2.8 ; face towards proper right; " thought" without capital, and " Surpass'd" with; comma after "majesty"; 155
"further goe"; "Former" with capital and "two" in italics without; no name of engraver. 39. Milton. G. Vertue sculp. One of five ovals forming an 8vo page, the centre portrait being Chaucer, and the others Milton, Butler, Cowley and Waller; mentioned by Granger and Walpole. It forms one of the illustrations to Jacob's Poetical Register, 2 vols., 8vo, London, 1723, but the plates have the appearance of having been collected from various sources, and this may previously have appeared elsewhere. 40. Anon. Portrait in Faithorne costume &c., but with still further divergence in feature; in a circle formed by a serpent, bordered, at a distance of -fa of an inch, by a circular border, extended at the sides by two shells, and contracted at the top by the boundary of the plate, and at the bottom by a pedestal with the inscription * * * Cui mens divinior, atque os Magna sonaturum * * * * size of entire engraving, which has the appearance of a vignette, 3.8 x 2.6 ; men tioned by Granger, who ascribes it to Vertue. Granger describes another plate: " Milton; in a small round encompassed with " a serpent; Vertue sc." If this be a separate print I have not seen it, and know not whether it would be correctly inserted in this place. 41. Anon. Portrait in a circle 1.2 in diameter, on a wreathed pedestal, between two sphynxes, in the attitude of heraldic supporters; appears to be a vignette, or cut from a larger plate. 42. The Effigie of John Milton : author of " Paradise Lost." In an oval, on a diapered ground, and partly covered at foot by a border of acanthus leaves, sur rounding a vignette of the Temptation ; at the corners formed by the lower part of the oval, are several volumes, of which two are open, and are inscribed with the titles of "Comus" and "Lycidas." This is a carefully engraved plate, measuring probably about 4.7 x 2.1', hut ray copy, which is the only oue I have ever seen, has been somewhat cut down. The features have an expression differing considerably from any of the .Faithorne portraits before noticed. 43. Milton. G. Faithorne delt, London dirext. A copy of the Faithorne print in outline, for the Hist, d' Angleterre. 44. Joannis Miltoni. £t. LXII. MDCLXX. Gul. Faithorne ad viv. del. Car. Knight sculp. A handsome engraving, in an oval, standing on a pedestal, with name and age as above on the front, and on the base " Sana posteritas sciet"; size of plate 0.5 x 4.4 ; prefixed to Capel Lofft's second edition of the first and second books of " Paradise Lost," published at Bury St. Edmunds in 1793. In the preface to his first edition, published in 1792 (p. xxv), he says " If any engraving accom- "panies this edition, it will be only the portrait of Milton, in the most unembel- " lished style, from the engraving which was prefixed to the second edition." It is curious that Lofft was at this time, as he admitted in his subsequent edition, unac- 150
quainted with the existence of the Faithorne portrait, and knew it only from Dolle's copy. 45. lohn Milton, aged 02. Engraved from an original by William Faithorne, published 1C70. Published 13 June, 1796, by I. & H. Hichter. An oval, measu ring 5 x 4.4 ; prefixed to Richter's edition of " Paradise Lost," 4to, London, 1794; BO that the above date or that of the imprint of the volume is an error. 46. Milton. Faithorne pinxt. 1670. Woodman, Jun., set. Eectangular; in frame surmounted with a panel containing a trumpet and laurel wreath, and at foot a wreathed sarcophagus, inscribed with name as above ; size of engraving S.0x3.6; published Nov. 1st, 1807,"by Mathews and Leigh. It appears to be uniform with the series of portraits issued by the same publishers in the " Cabinet; or Monthly " Report of Polite Literature," but I do not find it inserted in the volume of the date it bears. 47. John Milton. P. Roberts sculp. No background; published by T. Dolby, Oct. 1, 1821. 48. John Milton (facsimile of autograph). H. Robinson sc. London, William Pickering, 1831. A beautifully engraved oval, 2.0 X 2.2; published in his Aldine edition of Milton. 49. John Milton (facsimile of autograph). Gul. Faithorne ad vivum del. Cochran sculp. Engraved for Ivimey's Life of Milton ; published by Effingham Wilson, 5 Jan., 1833. 50. John Milton. Engraved by W. C. Edwards; published by Westley and Davis, London; prefixed to Fletcher's edition of the prose works, royal 8vo, London, 1H33 ; rectangle, 4.9 x 4 exclusive of lettering. The softened expression already noticed indicates that this has been engraved from Vertue's copy of the Faithorne portrait. 61. Milton. London, L. Tallis, 8vo ; published in Leonard Townseud'8 " Alphabetical Chronology of Remarkable Events." 02. An octagon, 3.7 x 3.1; a neatly finished modern engraving, which, being only known to me by a proof before letters, I am unable to describe further. 03. Jo. Milton, 1031 (facsimile of autograph). Engraved by W. Humphreys, from a print by Faithorne, London, William Pickering, Ap. 23,1851. Rectangular, 4.9 x 3.9 ; and at foot, above the signature, a facsimile of Milton's inscription in Ms copy of Aratus, now in the British Museum: " Cum sole, et Luna semper Aratus erit." OTHERS DERIVED FROM THE FAITHORNE PORTRAIT. We come now to a class of prints, in which the likeness presents so great a divergence from the features we have been contemplating, that I have thought it hest to class them under a separate heading. The costume 167 and attitude evidence their origin, remotely at least, from Faithorne'a portrait: and I think it probable that another drawing from it by Cipriani, while in the possession of the Tonsons, may have led the way to the great variety of feature we shall shortly have to notice. The identity of Messrs. Tonson's drawing with Faithorne's original I am not disposed to question ; but the story related in Hollis's memoirs (p. 619,) of Vertue's going on purpose to see Mrs. Clarke at her lodgings near Moorfields, and causing divers paintings, and this drawing which he took with him, to be brought into the room as if by accident, is inconsistent from beginning to end, and suggests the idea that it had its origin in a confused recollection of Vertue's and Richardson's accounts of two other interviews with Deborah Clarke. That the scene described might have taken place in his own studio would seem more possible : but that while calling on her at her lodgings, painting after painting could have been brought into her own room " as if by accident" without attracting her attention is inconceivable. Her surprise at the sight of the drawing is scarcely less remarkable : for if it was Faithorne's original, she must have known of its existence, and been as familiar as we are with the engravings from it, even if she had left her father's house before the original was taken, and had never seen it, and I think the probability is it was taken before she went to Ireland. The drawing however needed no such anecdote to authenticate it. If it agreed with the Faithorne engraving, Vertue's own opinion to that effect, formed on internal evidence, would have been infinitely more valuable than Mrs. Clarke's ; and there is no apparent improbability of its having been what Hollis supposed it to be the original of that engraving. In the faithfulness of Cipriani's representation of the features I confess I have less confidence, and I attribute, in a great measure, to the influence of his engraving the great variety of features found among subsequent prints, the costume and attitude of which attest their origin in the Faithorne portrait.
54. lohn Milton. Drawn and etched MDCLX, by I. B. Cipriani, a Tuscan, at the desire of Thomns Hollis, F.E. and A.SS., from a portrait in crayons, now in the possession of Messrs. Tonson, Booksellers in the Strand, London. Portrait en closed in an OTO! wreath of laurel; and below, the quotation: " I sing with mortal voice uiichang'd," &c. The print is mentioned by Granger; and forms one of the Hollis series. 65. John Milton. J. Hall sculpt. Printed for John Bell, March 1st, 1777. 158 An oval suspended from wreath and riband; below, the name on a label; size 4x2.4. 56. Id. Another, very similar, in Bell's British Poets. 57. Milton. From Vertue. Milton sculpt. Published by Harrison and Co., Dee., 1705. Oval, 1.9 X 1.4; engraved as a vignette illustration to a short bio graphical notice. It may possibly have been copied from one of Vertue's 4to. prints ; but the features induce me to insert it in this place. 08. Anon. J. Miller so. An oval much covered with drapery ; and beneath, in a circle, a lyre and laurel branches. This portrait is inserted here on the strength of the costume : but both as regards it and many subsequent ones it will be un necessary to repeat that they present every shade of dissimilarity from the original from which they are derived. ftO. Anon. Holbrook sc. A bad copy of the last mentioned plate, but reversed, and with Dryden's lines at foot; prefixed to some copies of the prose retranslation of Paradise Lost from Raymond lie St. Maur, 8vo, London, 1773. fiO. I. Milton. N. Parr sculp. An oval, 1.3 x 1.2, suspended by a riband. 81. Milton. Bartolozzi sculp. A circle, partly surrounded by laurel branches and fillet; on a pedestal inscribed with name ; 4.7 x 2.8. 62. Milton. R. H. Cromek sculp. Very similar to the last; circle surmounted by laurel boughs; name on panel; size 3.8 x 2.0. 03. Anon. From an original painting. Heath sculp. Resembling the pre ceding; qy published in Aikin's British Poets, 1802. 64. Milton. Engraved by W. T. Fry ; published by Thomas Tegg; in Howard's Beauties of Milton. Ornamented rectangular frame, 1.2 x 2.5; the name on a festoon overhanging the top. The portrait has a strong resemblance to Cipriani's engraving. 65. Anon. One of three portraits, in circles l{in. in diameter, in the title page of the Beauties of Milton, Thomson and Young, published by Kearsley, 12mo, London, 1783. CO. John Milton. A. Haenish delt., Schenck and McFarlane, Lithographers, Edinburgh. Folio print. THE WHITE PORTRAIT, OR SIMON'S FOLIO MEZZOTINT. The importance I am inclined to attach to this portrait and my reasons for it have been discussed in my introductory observations ; and the de scription I have already given renders unnecessary any further detail. The doubt there suggested furnishes the reason for my having provisionally given it an alternative title, until I am able to ascertain whether it was published before or after 1734. 159
67. Mr. lohn Milton. R. White ad vivnm delin. J. Simon fecit. Sold by T. Bowles in Paul's Church yard and J. Bowles in Cornhill. Mezzotint; size 11.2 x 9.2, within the plain oval frame ; and at foot Dryden's lines in double columns. I have elsewhere mentioned the apparent rarity of this head, and the absence of mention of it by Granger or Bromley. It is mentioned in the Catalogue of the Sutherland collection (1837), a work which does more credit to its printer than its compiler. 68. Milton. A composition, containing in the foreground a bust of Milton, copied from the ab,ove, and in the background pictures of Cowley and Denham, the three names being inscribed on a panel at foot; engraved by Anthony Cardon, from a drawing by Thomas Uwins, after the originals of Sir Peter Lely and K. White, and published 1st November, 1805, by John Sharpe. 69. An oval, 3.6 x 2,8; known to me only by a proof before letters. Though without the wreath, the continuation downwards of the folds of drapery depending from the shoulders to the point at which they connect themselves with each other, as noticed already, shews that this print has been copied from Simon's rather than from Richardson's portrait. THE WHITE-RICHABDSON LIKENESS. I have already stated the doubts, which nothing but proof of dates is likely to settle, whether Richardson or Simon copied from the other of them the wreath which forms a distinguishing feature of their respective prints. If Richardson was the copyist, and concealed the source from which he derived it, we have no reason to doubt the statement of Simon that his Mezzotint was from an original drawing of Robert White who was contemporary both with him and Milton. If Simon was the copyist, we have no artist's name to set up in opposition : and there is still room for the possibility of his having had grounds, unknown to us, for attributing it to White. Pending the solution of these doubts, I have assumed the truth of the former alternative, and given the name of White to the original drawing in the possession of Richardson in 1734; and consequently the joint names will properly belong to the class of portraits which were derived from Richardson's study of that drawing. It will be convenient to introduce them by an extract from his preface to his " Explanatory notes " and Remarks on Milton's Paradise Lost," published in 1734. At p. ii he says: " The print prefixed shews the face of him who wrote Paradise " Lost, the face we chiefly desire to be acquainted with. 'Tis done from " a picture which I have reason to believe he sate for not long before his " death: I have therefore given a little more vigour to the print and but a 100 " little. The complexion must be imagined as of one who had been fair " and fresh coloured. Toland says he was ruddy to the last. My picture " and other information does not tell us that, but that he might have been " so not long before. The colour of his eyes inclined to blue not deep ; "and though sightless they were as he says himself 'clear to outward view " of blemish or of spot;' he was told so and 'tis certain the gutta serena "which was his case does not appear to common eyes aud at a little "distance. But blindness even of that kind is visible in the colour, "motion, and look of the eye which has the sad unhappiness of being "extinguished by it. 'Tis wonderfully expressed in the picture from " which this print was made as well as the sett of the mouth and the rest " of the air. I have imitated it as well as I could in a way of working " which I never practised but on a few plates and those in my youth, " except an attempt on one or two near twenty years ago. The laurel is " not in the picture. The two lines under it are my reason for putting it " there not what otherwise would be imagined: all the world has given it " him long since." 70. Anon. Etching. J. E. sen. f. From an excelt. orig. (crayons) in his col lection. Portrait with wreath as described above, the face being turned to the proper left, and, xmder it: " Nectens aut Paphia Myrti, aut Parnasside Lauri Fronde comas, at ego secura pace quiescam. Milton's Mansus." It is mentionetl in Granger and Bromley; size of plate 6x4. 71. Anon. Etching, lettered as the preceding, and so closely resembling it as to be easily mistaken for it, but differing in size (being 6.1 X 3.5), in the drapery being continued a little lower down on the chest, and in the laurel branch on the right temple consisting of nine leaves instead of eleven. 72. Milton. G. Barren delt. et fecit. An etching, copied from Richardson's original, but reversed. 78. Anon. Engraving reduced from Richardson's etching, but reversed as in the last; size, exclusive of lettering (which is copied from Richardson's), 4.2 x 2.7. 71. Anon. J. Richardson f. An etching much improved by the omission of the wreath; at foot are the following verses, signed J. R. Jun.: " Authentic Homer Light's whole Fountain flows, Immense I Feiroe Dazling yet, & Torrent Glows : His Temper'd Beam the Mantuan Bard reflects, Shines Sweeter, & his Fairest Rays Selects : Thine Milton Both, but not Both These Alone, Thou, like Elysium, Kuow'st Another Sun." 161
Size 8 X 5{. Warton's note (p. 581 ed. 1791) describes it as "another etching of " Milton by Richardson the younger, before he was blind, and when much younger " than fifty, accompanied with six bombast verses, ' Authentic Homer,' &c." I know not what authority there may be for attributing tliis etcliing to the Younger Richard - son. In manner, it appears very like that of the father; and the lettering seems to attribute to the son nothing more than the authorship of the crazy verses. 75. Anon. An Etching in Richardson's manner, and so described by Granger ; size 9.9 x 7.6 ; without lettering; very similar to the last, hut on a larger scale, and with a somewhat different expression. Whether it is an etching by the elder Richardson is a question of some importance ; for the drapery, differing from the preceding in being more full over the shoulders, and meeting at an acute angle over the chest, points it out as a connecting link with what I have called below the " Baker Drawing," to which the resemblance in this respect is striking; but I am unable to explain the precise connection between them. *«* Some other etchings by Richardson, which might perhaps have been placed here, will be found described among the engravings from Busts, Medallions &c. 76. Anon. Engraved by J. Roper. An oval, 2.0 X 2.1; forming a vignette in the engraved title to Parsone's edition of Paradise Lost, roy. 8vo, London, 1706. THE WHITE-VERTOE LIKENESS, OR VERTUE (1725). I have adopted the first of these titles to indicate what I helieve to have heen the origin of this portrait, which Granger estimates among capital works of Vertue. No other person in his day was so well acq with the features of Milton, so largely employed in reproducing the known portraits of him, or more scrupulously faithful in doing so. When engaged on his series of Twelve Heads of the Poets, it may well be supposed to have been a reasonable ambition of Vertue to produce, from a careful comparison of the various authentic portraits, a print which, without being a servile copy of any of them, should embody his own ideal of the features of the Poet. The print about to be noticed appears to me to answer this description. The same drawing which served as an original to Simon and Richardson, or possibly Simon's mezzotint itself, (for Eichardson's etching was not published till nine years afterwards,) seems to have been adopted as regards the attitude, and I think I can trace in the features a blending of the expression of that drawing with the milder aspect of the Faithorne portrait, as rendered in White's engraving of 1688 and Vertuo's own 4to prints. The costume closely follows the same drawing, except as regards the arrangement of the drapery, the treatment of which is original, and will serve us, as the distinguishing marks of the Faithorne engraving have L 163 done already, in detecting the origin of subsequent prints. Mr. Cunning- ham, in a note to his edition of Johnson's Lives (vol. I, p. 131), passes over Richardson's etching with slight notice as a " compound portrait," and observes that " posthumous additions of this kind are only impertinences at " the best." I am not disposed in general to dissent from this proposition : but it seems hard that what is the daily practice of the sculptor the pro duction, from the best extant materials, of an ideal representation of the features of illustrious men of a past generation should be a privilege wholly denied to the sister art; and a portrait so produced may surely claim our approval in proportion to the authenticity of the originals relied upon as authorities, and the conscientiousness and skill with which the available materials have been used. Such a claim for indulgence would be justly forfeited by any deception as to the original from which an engraving purports to have been taken : but in the present instance, though the size and pretension of the plate would have led us to expect a statement of the authority used, we find only the engraver's own name and the date of his work a circumstance which tends to confirm this explanation of the origin of the portrait. The " ffitat. 62, anno 1670," if ray conjecture be correct, is to be regretted, as tending to the practice I have just been condemning, but I presume the artist only meant to indicate the age at which he con ceived his portrait to represent the features of Milton, namely the date of the Faithorne engraving.
77. loannes Milton, ^tat. 62. A.D. 1670. Geo. Vertue sculp. 1725. In an oval composed of ornamental masonry; the age and date round the frame; the name on a block above ; at foot of tbe oval, an escutcheon containing what is intended for Milton's arms, but the eagle is single headed as in another print of Vertue's; and beneath, on a panelled block, Dryden's lines; size of plate 14.4 X 9.4. Illustrissimo Dno. Dno. Algernon Comiti de Hertford Dno. Percy, Boydell arid George Nicol; forming one of the series of three portraits in Boydell'a Milton, the other two being the Janssen and Onslow portraits. 80. John Milton. Blood sc. Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees & Onne, 1809 ; size of engraving 4.1 x 3.8. 81. Milton. Engraved by K. Cooper. From an original picture, for La Belle Assemblee; size 5.3 X 4.7, exclusive of lettering; published July i, 1810, by J. Bell. 82. John Milton, 1667 (facsimile of autograph). Published by William Picketing, 182G ; appeared in his three volume edition of the Poetical Works, published in that year; size of engraving 6.5x8.7. The facsimile autograph is copied from Milton's agreement with Samuel Symons, which bears date the 27th April, 16C7 ; and the date attached to the signature in this print is- only meant to indicate the period at which the facsimile represented the supposed handwriting of the poet. Whether the signature be really that of Milton is a question foreign to our purpose, and is under discussion among more competent authorities. 83. John Milton (facsimile of autograph). William Faithorne del. E. Hicks sculp. Published by Thomas Kelly, June 1, 1829. Size 3.1x2.4, exclusive of autograph and lettering; a close copy of Vertue's 1725 engraving, though ignorantly attributed to Faithorne. 84. John Milton (facsimile of autograph). Vertue. W. C, Edwards. London, John Macrone, 1835 ; published in the six volume edition of the Poetical Works edited by Sir Egerlon Brydges. The list of illustrations erroneously describes it as a " Portrait of Milton in his 62nd year, from Faithorne's original drawing." 85. John Milton. Rectangle, 1.5x1.2, in a frame of outline scroll work; no name of engraver. 86. Jean Milton. Ne a Londres en 1608 mort en 1674 age de 66 ans. E. G. Schmidt sculpsit. A Paris chez Odieuvre. Oval, 3.6x3, in a plain frame ; escut cheon with single headed eagle at foot; the whole on a pedestal inscribed as above. 87. Jean Milton, auteur dti Poeme du Paradis perdu et de celui du Paradis retrouve, ne a Londres en 1608, mort en 1674. Suite de Desrochers. Se vend Paris chez Petit. Oval, 39x3.3, formed of masonry; a scroll, at foot, inscribed as above; and below a tablet with six lines of verse, commencing " Par la sublimite de son double Poeme," &c. 88. J. Milton. Ne. a Londres le 9 xbre 1608. Mort a Brunhill [Bunhill- fields] le 15 nhre 1674. F. Bonneville del. Oval, 4 x 3.4. WHITE-VANDERGUCHT ENGRAVING. The attitude of the engraving next to be described proclaims its origin in the same drawing as the original of the portraits last noticed, and is my justification for the title I have given it. Vandergueht has altered the I 164 features so as to represent a much younger man than the Vertue engra ving, and has clothed the figure in the slovenly undress in vogue among the artists of his day. 89. Giovanni Milton. Juo. Vander Gueht sculp. A large oval; and at foot an escutcheon with the single headed eagle, with helmet, crest, and lambrequin, and various ornaments, such as harps, wreaths etc.; size of plate 12x7.7; in the Italian translation of "Paradise Lost," by Paolo Eolli, folio, London, 1730 ; men tioned by Granger. 90. Joannes Milton. N. Parr sculp. An oval, with somewhat similar orna ments ; size of engraving 5.7 x 3.2. 01. Giovanni Milton. Antonio Barutti scul. An oval, on a pedestal; size of plate 0.2 x 3.9 ; in the edition of Eolli's translation, published in 12mo, Paris, 1758. THE BAKEB DRAWING, &c. In my introductory observations I quoted a passage from Todd's Life, confounding Faithorne's and Richardson's drawings and one which, after passing through the hands of the Tonsons to Mr. Baker, was engraved for Todd's work. In a note at p. 141 of his second edition (1609) Todd writes : " In the year 1670 there was another plate, by Faithorne, from a " drawing in crayons by Faithorne, prefixed to his History of Britain. * * " The print has been several times copied. By an ingenious young artist " a new drawing was taken from Faithorne's picture, (supposed to be the " best likeness extant of the poet, and for which he sat at the age of 62,) " by the kind permission of William Baker, Esq., in whose possession it " now is; from which an engraving was made for my first edition of " Milton's Poetical Works. From the same picture the neat engraving in " the present edition-is also made. * * * The Eichardsons, and next " the Tonsons, before Mr. Baker, had the admirable crayon drawing above " mentioned. * * * This head by Faithorne was etched by Richard- " son, the father, about 1734, with the addition of a laurel crown to help " the propriety of the motto." There is no question that the drawing copied by Cipriani, and which I am ready to admit to have been Faithorne's original drawing, was in the possession of the Tonsons, but I have pointed out that it has no connection with the drawing copied by Richardson ; and a glance at the engravings in Todd's Milton will shew that it had no more connection with the original from which they were taken. The drawing copied by Richardson may have also passed to the Tonsons, as stated by 165 Newton, and after him by Warton and Todd. That belonging to Mr. Baker no doubt passed to him from the Tonsons. My conjecture is that from the drawing copied by Richardson, and which we have treated as an original by White, or still more probably from the anonymous etching (No. 75) which we have placed with those of Richardson, the Tonsons had a new drawing made, for the purpose of having it engraved for their Baskerville edition of " Paradise Lost," and that this is the drawing belonging to Mr. Baker, and again copied and engraved for each of the editions of Todd's Milton. I base this conjecture mainly on the fact that the drapery of the portraits in the Baskerville Milton and in Todd'a editions shews an actual identity, though departing slightly from that of the White and White-Richardson portraits, except the large anonymous etching (No. 75) to which the resemblance in this respect is very close. The attitude also is identical; and the features do not differ more than may be accounted for to those who have gone thus far with me by the inevitable divergence of successive drawings, and from these again having been copied by different engravers more especially when we bear in mind that the first of them was Miller, whose engraving, it is fair to suppose, bore about as much resemblance to the original from which he professed to copy as that already described (No. 58) did to the Faithorne portrait. These engravings, then, and some others which may possibly have been derived from them, are arranged as follows: 92. Alien. J. Miller sc. Portrait in an irregular oval, enveloped in drapery, which partly conceals a panel or pedestal, on which is a vignette representing the expulsion; size 6.5 x 4.3 ; prefixed to the edition of " Paradise Lost" edited by Newton, printed by Baakerville, and published by J. & B. Tonsou, 4to, Birming ham, 17S9. 93. The same print, without engraver's name, and cut down to the size of 6.8 x 3.6, to adapt it to an 8vo volume, was prefixed to Newton's " Paradise Lost," 8th edition, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1778. 94. John Milton. Born 1608. Died 1674. T. Simpson del. J. Baker sculp. From the original drawing by Faithorne, in the possession of William Baker, Esq. Size 4.7 x 3.7 ; prefixed to the first edition of Todd's Milton, 6 vols. 8vo, London, 1801. Simpson is the "ingenious young artist" referred to in Totld's note. The features have more of the expression of White's drawing than the subsequent engraving by Collyer. 95. John Milton. Born 1608. Died 1674. From the original painting by Faithorne, in the possession of William Baker, Esq. Drawn by T. Simpson. 166 Engraved by J. Collyer. Same size; published in 1809, in the second edition of Todd's Milton. 96. John Milton. Born 1608. Died 1674. From the original painting by Faithorne, in the possession of William Baker, Esq. Drawn by T. Simpson. Engraved by T. A. Dean. Size 4.9 X 3 9; published in the third edition of Todd's Milton, in 1826. It was also prefixed to the fourth edition in 1851, lettered " John " Milton, Faithorne pinxit, Dean sculpt." 97. John Milton. Faithorne pinxt. Dean sculp. Published by J. G. & F. Hivington, 1883 ; prefixed to an edition of "Paradise Lost" issued by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; size S.6 x 3 exclusive of lettering; a neat copy of the preceding. 98. John Milton. jEtat. 62. Engraved by Holl. Published Nov. 23rd, 1799, by T. Heptingstall. Oval, 4.4x3.4. I class this and the copies from it, and several succeeding engravings, with the above, rather than multiply subdivisions; but there is a marked change of features, as well as costume, shewing that they are from a different drawing, as is evidenced, indeed, by the date, and I have some doubts whether even from the same original portrait. A further issue of this print is marked as " printed for Vernor & Hood and the other proprietors," and is pre fixed to Bensley's edition of" Paradise Lost," 8vo, London, 1802. 99. John Milton. Engraved by J. Archer, for the select Portrait Gallery in the Guide to Knowledge. Kectaugle, 4.6x3.8 exclusive of lettering; a close copy of the preceding. 100. Milton. W. French sc. John Tallis & Company, London and New York. A copy of the same print; in a tasteless border of irregular form, G.2 in diameter, of curtains, leaves, &c., forming a plate to Wright's Universal Pronouncing Dic tionary, royal 8vo, no date. 101. John Milton (with five lines of biographical notice engraved). London, William Darton, 1822. No. 83 in the first volume of his " Cabinet of Portraits;" a copy from the same, rather coarsely executed in the chalk manner of engraving; lyre and laurel wreath lightly sketched in behind the head; size of plate 4.9 x 3.1. 102. Milton. In a suspended frame, with ornamented corners, on the bottom of which the name is inscribed; outside size 3.2x3.7; a copy of the same. 103. Giovanni Milton. Onorate 1' altissimo Poeta. Engraved by Mariano Bovi; oval, 6.7 x 4.3. The costume somewhat resembling some of the preceding, and the features more nearly approaching the White-Richardson type. 104. Giovanui Milton. Nato li 9 xbre 1608. Morto li 15 9bre 1674. B. Musitelli inc. Prefixed to Scolari's Saggio di Critica sul Paradiso Perduto, 4to, Venezia, 1818. A slight resemblance in costume is the only excuse I can allege for assigning the present place to this ipavXov Sva^iftrma £wypa0ow. 167 VERTUE'S ENOBA.YTKG (1760). There are several other engravings bearing the name of Vertue, the history of which I am unable to explain. The principal one bears the above date ; and the drapery is so nearly identical with that of the prints which I have classed together under the heading of the Baker drawing, and especially that by Miller in the Baskerville Milton, that 1 think it probable it may have had a connection, more or less remote, with the drawing in the possession of the Tonsons. In features it is wholly unlike any of the other portraits; and the form of the collar in all the prints I have here classed together differs from any of those we haye been examining. The others are quite unworthy of Vertue's reputation ; but some allowance must be made for an engraver pursuing his art at the age of 72. 105. Milton. G. Vertue, 1750. Portrait in a plain oval frame, resting on a pedestal, on the top of which are the engraver's name and date ; at the top of the frame is a long narrow oval, surrounded with scroll and fillet, and inscribed with the name of Milton ; published iu Newton's edition of " Paradise Loat," 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1750, and again in 1778, and probably other editions. This may be the print referred to by Granger under the description of " Milton oval his name ia " in capitals at the top Vertue sc. 8vo." Bromley has copied Granger's description. 106. John Milton. G. Vertue so. (the G and V blended in a manner not unusual in Vertue's prints). The lower part of the portrait shews a portion of an oval frame; the name on a panel beneath; appears in Tonson's edition of " Paradise Lost," 12ino, London, 1751. 107. John Milton. G. V. sc., 1756. The size and arrangments exactly like the preceding, but the features still more unsatisfactory. The monogram which I have transcribed as G. V. scarcely admits of description without a facsimile. The print appeared in one of the lUmo editions of " Paradise Lost," published with Teuton's Life. 108. John Milton. Ornamented and engraved by J. Chapman, 1804. Pub lished by James Cuuclee. Prefixed to Evans's edition of " Paradise Lost,'1 in two volumes small 8vo; an octagon, 2.4x1.0, surmounted by a dove, and with serpent, cross and other ornaments at foot; the portrait evidently copied from the preceding. 109. Milton. Engraved by Chapman. An oval, 1.7 x 1.3, forming a vignette to the engraved title to a small edition of the Poetical Works, published by Suttaby, in 1805, and furnishing a more pleasing version of the same portrait. 168 PORTRAITS DERIVED FROM BUSTS, MEDALLIONS, SEALS Ac. It is one of the disadvantages incident to the practice of the sculptor's art, that his services are frequently called into requisition for the purpose of conferring posthumous honor on those whose features can only be recalled by a comparison of extant portraits: and the result is that in portrait sculpture we look not so much for a literal rendering of the features of the original, as for a work of art, in which those features are impressed with the artist's idea of what is characteristic of the man. Whether any bust of Milton, from which the engravings now to be noticed have been taken, were from the life, is at least doubtful; but the consider ations I have touched upon would render it unfair to class them on that account among pseudo-portraits. HOLLIS'S BUST. In Hollis's Memoirs (p. 613) it is stated that "Mr. Hollis, in a paper " dated July 30, 1757, says, ' For an original model in clay of the head of " 'Milton £9 12s., which I intended to have purchased myself had it not " 'been knocked down to Mr. Reynolds by a mistake of Mr. Ford the "'auctioneer. Note, about two years before Mr. Vertue died he told me " ' that he had been possessed of this head many years, and that he believed "'it was done by one Pierce, a sculptor of good reputation in those times, " 'the same who made the bust in marble of Sir Christopher Wren which " ' is in the Bodleian Library. My own opinion is that it was modelled by " 'Abraham Simon, and that afterwards a seal was engraved after it in pro- " 'file by his brother Thomas Simon, a proof impression of which is now in "'the hands of Mr. Yeo, engraver, in Covent Garden.'" A few lines further on it is stated that " the bust probably was executed soon after " Milton had written his Defensio pro populo Anglicano," and that " Mr. " Reynolds obligingly parted with this bust to Mr. Hollis for twelve " guineas." I infer from this that Mr. Hollis's own memorandum referred to the price at which the bust was sold to Reynolds. Warton states (p. 531 ed. 1791) that "Mr. Hollis bought it of Vertue" The inference from Hollis's memorandum, written in the year after Veitue's death, is that the latter had been the possessor before the sale at which it was knocked down to Reynolds. From this bust there have been various engravings: J10. Milton. J. Richardson delin. G. Vertne sculpsit. A bust on a pedestal, decorated with serpent and npple, and the poet's name inseribed on the plinth. 169 The bust stands in a round-headed niche; and the entire plate measures 12 x 7.3 ; it appeared in the edition of Milton's Prose Works, 2 vols. folio, London, 1738 ; mentioned by Granger. 111. Milton. J. Kichardson deliu. G. Vertue scnlpsit. The same plate, cut down a little above the spring of the circular head of the niche above mentioned, so as to reduce the size to 10 X 7.2, to adapt it to Baron's edition of the Prose Works, in 2 vols. 4to, London, 1753. 112. Milton. E. Verhelst fee. Mannheim. A small bust, unlike Milton in features, but indicating in costume and ornaments that it is intended for a copy of the preceding. 113. lohn Milton, drawn and etched MDCCLX by I. B. Cipriani, a Tuscan, from a bust in plaister, modelled from the life, now in the possession of Thomas Hollis, F.K. and A.SS. An oval encircled with palm, uniform with the other Hollis portraits ; and beneath, the sonnet to Cyriac Skinner: " Uyriac this three years day," &c. It is mentioned by Grainger. 114. John Milton. Engraved by H. Meyer, from a drawing by Mr. Cipriani, in the possession of the Rev. Dr. Disney, published April 16, 1810, by T. Cadell and W. Davies. A representation of the same bust in profile; but whether from a drawing by Cipriani, as stated, or only founded on that made for the print last described, I am not aware. 115. Milton. Li/Aerary Magazine. A representation of the same bust, probably copied from Vertue's print; size, exclusive of lettering, 3.8 x2.8. 110. lohn Milton. Literary Magazine. The same altered, and the title of the periodical corrected as above. RICHARDSON'S ETCHINGS. 117. MIATQ (inscribed on the pedestal of a bust). J. Richardson f.; and beneath, the lines: " Forsitan & nostros ducat de Marmore Vultus, Nectens aut Paphia Myrti, aut Parnasside Lauri Fronde Comas, at ego Secura Pace quiescam. Milton in Manso." Size of plate 9.2x5.8. This is an etching mentioned in the Memoirs of Thomas Hollis. At p. 514, the author after introducing the subject of the Poems and Essays of Samuel Say, 4to, London, 1745 writes : " Let us not forget for what purpose we " brought this gentleman upon the carpet. It is for the sake of a print of a bust of " Milton, prefixed to his second essay, which, if our judgment were asked, we " should call a good one: the execution is by Mr. Richardson, Sen.: it is from " Mr. Hollis' model in clay, ornamented by Richardson, and is one of his sets of " prints of Milton." Warton notices Mr. Hollis's bust, and says that "Richardson " etched it for the Poems and Critical Essays of S. Say, 1754, 4to," but adds, "I " believe this is the same etching that I have mentioned above to have been made " by old Richardson, 1734, and which was now lent to Say's editor, 1754, for Say's 170 " Essays : old Eichardson was not living in 1754." (Wartorii Milton, p. 531, ed. 1791.) It must be admitted that the resemblance between the etching of 1734 (No. 70) and that under discussion is so close in feature, attitude and costume, and even in the addition of the wreath, that the latter print would be more correctly described as a study of Richardson from his " excellent original in crayons," adapted to the form of a bust, than as a copy from Hollis's model in clay; but it is impossi ble that Warton could have compared the two etchings, or had more than the vaguest recollection of one while describing the other, when he expressed his belief that the two plates were identical. His argument, moreover, rests on an error in dates. Say's Poems and Essays were published, not in 17(54, as thrice stated by Warton in the course of four lines, but in 1745, on the 6th of April in which year die preface is dated, while Eichardson survived to the 28tb of May following. The publication of Say's Poems and Essays was posthumous, the author having died in 1743; and a postscript acknowledges that " the subscribers " are obliged to Mr. Eichardson for the fine head of Milton, prefixed to the Essay " on the Numbers of Paradise Lost, who lent the plate etched by himself, to be " used on this occasion." Granger's account of the print is that it " was done from " a bust which belonged to the painter that etched the print; the bust is said to " have been done from a mould taken from his face, and is indeed very like him." He adds in a note, that " the prints of Milton by Eichardson are not common." ] 18. Milton (inscribed on the pedestal of a bust). Clark sc. A small vignette, enclosed in an abundance of foliated ornament; and probably a bad copy of the preceding. 119. MINTQ. J. Eichardson, 1738. A profile etching; in an oval 3.9x3.5; bearing no resemblance to any other portrait of Milton already noticed, but a con siderable resemblance to Bichardson's profile etching of Pope. Eichardaon's tendency to reproduce in portraiture the features of other portraits from his own hand is very remarkable; and, but for the close resemblance which his-etching of 1734 bears to the features in Simon's mezzotint, would be sufficient to destroy all confidence in the former even as an ideal portrait. I have placed this print in its present order from its apparent resemblance to a drawing from a medallion : bnt I am not aware of any from which it can have been taken. It is mentioned by Granger and Bromley. The original drawing is probably one described by Malone, (Prior's Life of Malone, p. 397, 399,) as being in profile, and marked "13th "February 1737 B." This and another of Milton, "4th December 1734 R.," and six other drawings by Eichardson, were bought at the sale of his drawings in 1746-7 by his son, at whose sale in 1772 they were bought by Mr. Parsons, a picture cleaner, who sold them to Maloue. The literary connection between Malone and the younger James Boswell renders it probable that these were the " two beautiful " pencil drawings of vellum, by the elder Eichardson, portraits of Milton," which formed lot 3206 at the sale of Boswell's library in 1825, and sold for nineteen shillings. 171 120. Anon. A profile in oval; strongly resembling the preceding, but clothed, and with collar in the style of the White- Richardson drawing. 121. Milton. F. P. The initials, as we are informed by Granger, ore those of Francis Perry. He was a pupil of Richardson. The etching, which is in profile, is a copy of the last but one, but reversed. MILTON VICTORIOUS OVER SALMASIOS. 122. Anon. I. B. C. I. F. MDCCLXVII. Lite of M. by I. T., ed. II, p. Ixxx. A quarto plate, representing a terminal bust of Milton, copied from Hollis's bust above described; on the face of the term is a volume lettered " Def. pro pop. "Anglic."; and beneath, a palm branch, from which is suspended a medallion representing, as we are informed below, Salmasius; mentioned by Granger and Bromley. The history of the print is given in the Memoirs of Thomas Hollis. At p. 871, after mentioning a projected edition of Milton's Prose Works, which became abortive in consequence of a misunderstanding between Mr. Hollis and Miller, the publisher, it is stated that " some time before this transaction Mr. Hollis had " settled with Mr. Cipriani, much as he said to his satisfaction, the sketch of a " print representing Milton victorious over Salmasius, which he undoubtedly " intended for a frontispiece to the projected edition of the Prose Works just men- " tioned. He did not, however, countermand this print upon his disappointment, " observing that it might serve for some future edition of those works." In a sub sequent passage (p. 383) the author proceeds to say : " We have mentioned above " that Mr. Hollis had, in concert with Cipriani, settled the sketch of an emble- " matical print representing Milton's victory over Salmasius. On the 13th of "January [1768] Mr. Cipriani brought him a finished drawing from that sketch, " for which Mr. Hollis paid him five guineas, and presented him with two more on " account of the masterly execution of it. It was agreed between them at the same " time that Cipriani should make an etching from that drawing, which was done, " and a proof brought to Mr. Hollis by Cipriani March 5, for which the artist had, " as the price of his ingenuity, twenty guineas, and five more as a present." 123. Anon. I.B.C.I.F. MDCCLXVII. J. Hopwood s. A reduced copy of the preceding; 4.4 x 3.2; the volume and palm branch being superseded by a fillet, inscribed with the words " Defensio secunda," from which the portrait of Salmasius is suspended; prefixed to the third volume of the works of Archdeacon Wrangham, 8vo, London, 1816. 124. John Milton. The same plate, altered by the erasure of the fillet and portrait from the face of the term, and the substitution of the Poet's name; and beneath, in odd conjunction, the words " Do fermented liquors contribute to intel- " lectual excellence ? " RYSBBACK'B MONTIMENT. 125. Milton. H. Gravelot delin, Nathl. Parr sculp. The name inscribed on the pedestal of a bust, the history of which is given on a panel below, namely: 172 " In the year of our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred and thirty seven " This Bust of the Author of Paradice Lost was placed here by William Benson " Esquire one of y* two Auditors of the Impress to His Majesty King George the " Second formerly Surveyor General of the Works to His Majesty King George the " First. Hysbrack was the Statuary who cut it." This is the marble bust in Westminster Abbey. It is stated in Hollis's Memoirs to be after his plaister bust and the Faithorne drawing in the possession of the Tonsons, but chiefly the latter. The print is a folio 12 X 7.5. 126. The monument of the celebrated John Milton as it now stands in West minster Abbey. Drawn by Hamilton. Engraved by Thorntou. A reduced copy of the preceding in 8vo. 127. Johannes Miltonus. M. Bysbrachius marm. sc. pro Gul. Bensono, arm. G. Vaudergucht 1711, 4to. The above description is extracted from Granger. The print is mentioned also by Bromley, but I have not happened to meet with it. MlSCEIiLANEOUS BUSTS. 128. Mflton. Engraved by W. Bidley, from a drawing taken from a bust in the possession of the proprietor; printed for C. Cooke, 1800; in Cooke's edition of Select Poets. I know nothing of the bust from which this purports to be taken. 129. Anon. A miniature bust, somewhat resembling the preceding. 130. Milton. Richd. Smirke delt. Abr. Baimbach sculpt. Published by Johnson & Co., 1810, as a frontispiece to Cowper's Milton. A terminal bust, differ ing from all the other likenesses; standing on a circular pedestal, against which is reared a medallion of Cowper. MEDALLIONS. 131. lohonnes Miltonus. J. Hulett del. et sculp. A 4to plate in Peck's Milton, representing the obverse and reverse of a medal; obverse, lohannes Miltonus. Tanner f. Reverse, E. Marmore in Ecclesia Sancti Petri apud Westmonasterium erectore Gulielmo Bensono arm. Anno salmis humanoe MDCCXXXV1I. Bys brachius sculpsit; beneath, the quotation from the Odyssey: " Tov irtpi Motxr* " 20i'X)j<7£," &c., and the dedication " Viro ornatissimo Gulielmo Bensono arm. " Miltoni sui Tabulam hanc merito votivam D.D.D. Francus Peck, A.M." Thia medal was struck at the expense of Mr. Benson, and given, as stated by Dr. Joseph Warton in a note to his brother's edition of the minor poems (p. 362, ed. 1791), as prizes for the best verses that were produced on Milton at all our great schools. 132. loannes Miltonus. Guls. Green, Jun., delin. J. Wood sculp. A profile forming a medallion vignette, 2.1 in diameter in the title page of Dobson's Latin Translation of the Paradise Lost, 2 vols. Ito, London, 1753 ; stated by Granger to have been engraved from a medallion which was done after the head on his monu ment by Bysbrack, and resembling that or Hollis's bust. 178 138. loannes Milton. Engraved in outline from a medal; obverse, the head, apparently designed chiefly after the type of the White portrait; reverse, the Temp tation, partly surrounded with fillet inscribed " Dira dulce cauit alter Homerua;" in the exergue the initials J. D. 134. Anon. A. Smith, A.R.A. sc. A medallion in profile, forming a vignette in title page to an edition of Paradise Lost published in ISJino by Sharp, 1809. 135. John Milton. Chas. Heath sculp. Published by J. Mawmon, &c., 1817 ; a medallion in profile. 136. Englisli Poets. Ten medallion heads ranged on the side of a representa tion of Mount Parnassus. R. Smirke del. J. Newton & J. Landseer fecit. Medal lions per J. Newton. Folio : the head of Milton, though hi the form and style of a medallion, is copied from the Faithorne portrait. SEALS. 137. Milton. W. W. Eylands sc. From a drawing of Mr. Deacon, taken from an impression of a seal of T. Simon * in the possession of Mr. Yeo. This seal is referred to hi Hollis's Memoirs, in a passage already quoted in relation to Hollis'a bust, with which it is stated this agrees; but I confess I can see no resemblance. The print is mentioned by Bromley, and with approbation by Granger. 138. Milton. From an impression of a seal of T. Simon, in the possession of Mr. Yeo. In the only copy I have happened to meet with, a worn plate appearing in an edition of the Poet's works published by J. Smith, High Holborn, 1830, a close inspection detects traces of the words " engraved by" beneath the oval to the left, and a name to the right which I ain unable to decipher. Granger mentions a print which he describes as " Milton: from a drawing of Mr. Deacon taken from " an impression of a seal of T. Simon, in the possession of Mr. Yeo." Query whether this description is intended for the present print, or for either of those next to be described. 139. Milton. T. Holloway, sculpsit. From an impression of a seal of T. Simon, in the possession of the late Mr. Yeo; published August 15, 1801, by J. Mawmau, &c. 140. Milton. R. B. Romnery sculp. A close and well executed copy of the preceding. I am told it is a rare, if not an unpublished print. PRETENDED PORTRAITS. THE COOPEK MINIATURE. In proceeding to treat of those engraved heads, published with the name of Milton, the history of which I do not consider satisfactorily authenti- * Mr. Hollis is stated to have had a small steel puncheon of Milton's head, a full front, for a seal or ring, by the same T. Simon, who did many more of Miltou's party in the same way. 1 have been favored by Albert Way, Esq., with an impression in wax from a steel puncheon answering this description and admirably executed, 174 cated, the first rank is fitly occupied by one which, if the test I had adopted had been public acceptance, I must have placed among the authentic portraits: for none of those which will remain to be described have been so often or so well engraved as that which goes by the name of the Cooper miniature. It was bought for one hundred guineas, in 1784, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, from a picture dealer named Hunt, who " had " obtained it from a common furniture broker, who could not remember " the time nor manner in which he came by it." (Northmtes Life of Beynolds, 4to ed., p. 319.) It was marked " S.C. 1653"; and on the back was written, "This picture belong'd to Deborah Milton who was her " Father's Amannuensis at her death was sold to Sr Will Davenants " Family.* It was painted by Mr. Sam. Cooper who was painter to Oliver " Cromwell at at y« time Milton was Latin Secretary to ye Protector. The "Painter & Poet were near of the same age. Milton was born in 1608 " & died in 1674. Cooper was born in 1609 & died hi 1672 & were " Companions & friends till Death parted Them. Several encouragers and " Lovers of y8 fine Aits at that time wanted this picture, particularly Lord " Dorset f John Somers Esq.J Sp Rob1 Howard Dryden Atterbury Dr. " Aldrich & Sr John Denham." It was mentioned in the first edition of Warton's Milton in the following year (p. 546); and the publication of the second edition of that work in 1791, with some additional remarks (p. 532) suggesting the resemblance of the likeness to a portrait of Selden in the Bodleian, gave rise to a letter in the Gentleman's Magazine of 20th May, 1791 (vol. Ixi, p. 399), impugning the authenticity of the portrait, and written, as Todd informs us (and see also Nichols Lit. Anec. IX, 67), by Lord Hailes. The letter was answered on the 15th of June (p. 603) under the signature of " R. J.," which indicated no less a personage than Sir Joshua himself: and indeed the answer is avowed by his biographer Northcote, and printed by him in extenso (p. 320). A reply appeared in « Sir William Davenant's name had, shortly before Sir Joshua Beynolds' purchase, been before the public in connection with the history of the Chandos Shakespeare, of which a copy had been made by Sir Joshua himself. (See Soaden on Shakespeare portraits, p. 40.) + See note on Vertue's letter to Christian, ante. Warton notices that this may have been the picture to which Prior's recollection was to be called, as having been in Lord Dorset's collection. { Mr. Keightley (p. 133) prints "Lord Somers, Esquire," with "(sic)" to indicate that there is no typographical mistake ; but he does not mention that he has examined the original miniature ; and Miss Watson's engraving has the inscription as quoted in the text. I 175 the Gentleman's Magazine for October (vol. hd, p. 885); and in the follow ing month Sir Joshua made his will, leaving " the miniature of Milton by " Cooper " to the Rev. Wm. Mason, who in a letter printed in Sir James Prior's recently published Life of Malone (p. 193) stoutly maintained the genuineness of. his acquisition, gutta serena and all. By his will in 1797, after providing for the editing of his works by Willm. Burgh, Esq., LL.D , of York, he desired him for such friendly trouble to accept the fine miniature picture of Milton, painted by Cooper, which was be queathed to the testator by Sir Joshua Reynolds. (See Hunter's South Yorkshire, II, 169, quoted in Gent. Mag. for July, 1831.) The contro versy is too lengthy for our purpose; but the arguments may be shortly condensed. Lord Hailes shews the impossibility of reconciling the facts stated in the memorandum with the known date of Deborah Milton's death; and points out how irreconcileable any date is with the list of names given, and which he asserts to have been set down at random. It may be sufficient to mention that Sir John Denham died several years before Milton. Sir Joshua considered that the memorandum had been written before 1693, when Mr. Somers was knighted, and it had been admitted hi an inscription on an engraving which will presently be described, that the writer of the memorandum had been mistaken in sup posing Deborah Milton to be then dead. He quotes the authority of Mr. Tyrwhitt, to whom the miniature had been shewn at the Archbishop of York's table, for stating that " the orthography as well as the colour of the " ink shewed the memorandum to have been written about a hundred " years since ;" and restates the case for the authenticity of the picture, by saying its "progress seems to be this: Milton dying insolvent, and " Deborah Milton of course in great indigence, it is very improbable that " she would keep to herself a picture of such value; it was therefore sold, " as we suppose, to the author of the memorandum ; and the account there " given is probably such as he received from the seller of the picture, who, " in order to raise its value, boasts how many great men had desired to " have it." Lord Hailes replies to the argument as to the orthography, by which he assumes the writer to mean false spelling, that the only words misspelt are " amanuuensis" and " secretary "; and challenges Mr. Tyrwhitt to say whether such spelling was in use a hundred years ago, or whether a son of Sir William Davenant would so have written them ; and suggests the question whether the phrase "fine arts" was used in English so early 1 176 as 1693. He denies, on the authority of the testamentary papers which had just been brought to light, that Milton died insolvent, and argues that before we can suppose Deborah to have sold the picture, we must suppose her to have been possessed of it, whereas she was living apart from her father for several years before his death; and even if she had been pos sessed of it, and left in extreme indigence, she would not have been likely to retain it from 1674 to 1693 and then part with it. We may fairly sum up this portion of the argument by observing that while on the one hand the most perfect consistency in the facts stated in an unauthenticated memorandum, on a picture passing under such suspicious circumstances through the hands of a broker, would only prove the possibility and not the truth of the statement, a mistake in important facts is fatal to its authority, and justifies us in treating it as a fabrication. It may be added that Deborah Clarke expressly told Vertue that she knew of no other picture of her father than the two in the possession of his widow, having been several years in Ireland, both before and after his death. But abandoning the evidence of the memorandum, there remains the internal evidence of the picture itself. On this subject Sir Joshua Reynolds is entitled to be heard with respect, though with large allowance for his evident disinclination to believe he had been duped, and his eagerness to maintain a foregone con clusion arrived at on insufficient external evidence. He had told Warton that " the picture was admirably painted, and with such a character of " nature that he was perfectly sure it was a striking likeness he had now " a distinct idea of the countenance of Milton which could not be got from " any of the other pictures which he had seen." Under his assumed initials of " R. J." he says: " The opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds in " matters relating to his own profession certainly ought to have some " weight. . He is not likely to be wanting in that skill to which every other " artist pretends, namely, to form some judgment of the likeness of a " picture without knowing the original. * * * Without being an " artist it is easily perceived that the picture of Faithorne does not possess " that individuality of countenance which is in the miniature. * * * " There is no doubt but that Milton sat to Faithorne for that crayon " picture : the distinguishing features are the same as in the miniature " the same large eyelid the same shaped nose and mouth and the same " long line, which reaches from the nostril to below the corners of the " mouth and the same head of hair : but if the effect and expression of m " the whole together should be, as in fact it is, different in the two pictures, " it cannot, I should think, be difficult for us to determine on which side " our faith ought to incline, even though neither possessed any strong " marks of identity." The engravers have furnished ample opportunities for examining the lineaments of this much contested portrait. 141. Anon. Oral, 3.8 X 1.9 within the frame, in front of a curtain and pyramid; on the two exposed sides of the base are bas-reliefs representing the Expulsion and the Temptation ; reared against the front an oval representing tlie back of the miniature, with the memorandum above quoted ; and, below, thp fol lowing inscription : " Tiie above is a fac-simile of the manuscript on the back of " the picture which appears to have been written some time before the year 1093 " when Mr. Somers was knighted, and afterwards created Baron Eveshatn which " brings it within nineteen years after Milton's death. The writer was mistaken " in supposing Deborah Milton to be dead at that time : she lived till 1727, but in " indigence and obscurity married to a weaver in Spitalliclds. I have only to add " that Cooper appears to have exerted his utmost abilities on his friend's picture, " and that Miss Watson has shewn equal excellence in this specimen of her art. " The likeness to the original picture which is in my possession is preserved with " the utmost exactness. J. Reynolds." Published January 4, I'l 80, by Caroline Watson: mentioned by Bromley. 142. Milton. Engraved by Caroline Watson, 1808, from a Cooper. Oval; same she as above; published January 20, 1808, by Philips. 143. J.Milton. Ne en 1608, Wort en 1674. Reynolds pinx. Boutrois sc. 3.9 x 3.1. Sir Joshua Keynolds's connection with the picture suggests the origin of the mistake as to the painter. 144. John Milton. Augsburg, by John Elias Haid; mezzotint; oval, 6 X 4.6 within the frame. 145. John Milton. Cooper del. Cochran sc., published in Bohu's edition of Milton's Prose Works, vol. I. 146. Vignette to the edition of L'Allegro and II Penseroso, illustrated by Birkctt Foster. The description states broadly that " this portrait was formerly in the " possession of Milton's daughter Deborah : it then passed into the hands of Sir " William Davenant, and subsequently into those of Sir Joshua Reynolds." Do ROVERAY'S PRINT. 147. Milton. Engraved by William Sharp, after an original miniature by Samuel Cooper : the ornaments by O. B. Cipriani and E. F. Barney Oval, 3 x 2.4, surrounded with wreaths, &c., in front of a truncated column, against the base of which is an oval vignette representing the Temptation. Published in Du Koveray's edition of Paradise Lost, 1803. 178 If nothing can be found in common between tbis and Miss Watson's engraving, I presume the explanation must be that the name of Cooper, having been once brought into connection with Milton portraits, has been treated in the same manner as that of Faithorne, and is intended to assist the portly gentleman, whose features are here represented, in personating Milton. CBAIG'S DRAWING. 148. John Milton. Drawn by W. M. Croig, Esq., from a miniature by Cooper. E. Hicks sculp. Oval, 3.2 X 2.6, with serpent and apple, and other ornaments. Published by Nuttall, Fisher and Dixon, Liverpool, March 30, 1812. The same observations apply to this as to the preceding. PECK'S MEZZOTINT. ' This impudent attempt to foist upon the public a pretended portrait of Milton appeared in Peck's Memoirs in 1740. He describes it at p. 103 as " a picture, an half length, drawn when he was about five and twenty." " The original " he says " was once the property of Sir John Meres, of " Kirby Belers, in com. Leic., kt., but is now mine and you have a good " print of the head prefixed to this work. However as the plate exhibits " the head only, and as no engraving can express the colouring of the " complection and drapery, and perhaps something of the features, I " shall here add a short description of the whole. Milton is here drawn " sitting in a red velvet chair in a russet coloured nightgown lined with ft "blue." He then proceeds with a minute description of the dress, and 11- concludes by saying: " His left hand lying over an open book on a table " covered with a loose red velvet table cloth : the open dexter leaf of the " book numbered p. 30 : and on the edge of the book a label inscribed " Paradice Lost, with a e not an s as he often wrote it." Will it be believed that this book is the sole pretext for attributing the portrait to Milton ? Some one has observed that on similar grounds, if the volume had been the Book of Genesis, Mr. Peck would have supposed the portrait to be that of Moses. But he did not err from ignorance : for having asked Vertue whether he thought it a picture of Milton, and being peremptorily answered in the negative, Peck replied " I'll have a scraping from it " however and let posterity settle the difference." (See Warton p. 545, Ed. 1785.J Vertue himself told the story to Hollis in 1755. (See Hollis's Memoirs 513, 529.J Posterity has long since " settled the difference " not much to Mr. Peck's credit. . 179 149. Johannes Miltonus; circa annum eetatis xxv J. Faber fecit. Cedite Homaui Scriptores,cedite Graii, (Propert.) Viro ornatissimo Cuthberto Constable de Bin-ton Constable in com. Ebor. Tabulam hanc merito votivam D.D.D. Francus Peck A M. An oval representing a young man of about the age stated, with flowing bushy hair and moustache, dressed in a gown and short shirt collar open at the throat; size, exclusive of lettering, 6.8 X 5.8 ; mentioned by Granger and Bromley. THE ELDERTON MINIATURE. In January,'1791, the Rev. J. Elderton, of Bath, announced to the world in the columns of the Gentleman's Magazine, the existence of a miniature picture of Milton in his possession. He states that " it " belonged to his child's great ancestor Sir Edward Seymour, who was " speaker of the House of Commons, and grandfather of the Duke of " Somerset: it has been seen by connoisseurs, who always agreed it was " an original : the hair is of a dark chesnut colour, flowing down to the "shoulders." (Gent: Mag. v. lxi, p. 39.) Perverse individuals having venturod to hint a doubt of its genuineness, though vouched by so aristocratic a pedigree, Mr. Elderton settled the question by forwarding the outlines of the miniature for the purpose of the engraver: and this curious addition to the engraved portraits of Milton accordingly appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for January, 1792 : 150. Picture supposed to be Milton. Oval, 4.3 X 1.8, forming one of a page of illustrations to the Gentleman's Magazine; B[asire] sc. VEBTUE'S RICHARDSON PORTRAIT. 151. loannes Milton, aetat. 42. Ex musaeo J. Richardson. G. Vertue, Sculpsit, 1751. An oval, the frame of which terminates at the base in a foliated scroll, in which is inserted a panel, with name and age as above, and at the top lightning, serpent and apple, &c.; size of plate 8.6 X 6. This plate, which appeared in Newton's edition of Paradise Regained, 4to, London, 1752, and is mentioned in Granger and Bromley, and in the memoirs of Thomas Hollis, (p. 117), represents a person about the ag3 stated, dressed in gown and falling or Genevan band, with flowing hair and slight moustache. There can be no hesitation in classing it among the pseudo-portraits, though I regret so to treat an engraving inscribed with the name of the conscientious Vertue. I know nothing of its history beyond what I have stated. Richardson died six years before the date of the print, as I have mentioned in speaking of the etching published in Say's Poems and Essays, (No. 117.) 180 THE CHESTERFIELD PORTRAIT. 153. John Milton. From an original in Lord Chesterfield's collection. Cook sculpt. Printed for John Bell, Nov. 12, 1777. Oval; portrait of a young man of from 20 to 30, with moustache, &c., his head leaning on his hand in an attitude of thought; name on a panel below. 153. John Milton. From-an original in Lord Chesterfield's collection. Cook sculpt. Slightly differing from the preceding and distinguishable by the panel having square instead of rounded ends. 184. John Milton. In an edition of Paradise Lost, published by Law, Millar and Co., London, 1793; a copy of the precediug, but with broader and coarser features, THE STRAWBERRY HILL PORTRAIT. 155. John Milton. S. Harding del. E. Harding, Juu., sculpt. From an original picture in the collection of Lord Orford, at Strawberry Hill. Published Dec. 1, 1796, by E. & S. Harding, Pall Mall; 4to. The print is a half length portrait of a gentlemen of from 30 to 40 years of age and light complexion; in cavalier costume, apparently of hlack velvet; with pointed heard and moustache. The same plate, published without date by Evans of Great Queen Street, figured as a portrait of Sir William Killigrew, "Vandyke pinx." being substituted for " S. Harding del." If the latter account of the picture have any better evidence in its favor than the former I have no objections to offer, unless it represent a man older than 36, which was the age of Killigrew at the date of Vandyck's death in 1641. The sale catalogue of the Strawberry Hill collection has no mention of any portrait of Killigrew; but lot 7 in the 21st day's sale is described as " a portrait of Milton," without a word to identify or trace the history of the picture. In the catalogue of Portraits in the Manchester Art Treasures' Exhibition is one, numbered 105, (lent by the Duke of Newcastle) of " Sir William Killigrew; half length, in "black; signed 'A Van Dyck pinxit 1638.'" I had not then any reason for taking especial notice of the picture; but I am told it corre sponded with the print. THE CAPEL LOFFT PORTRAIT. This is a folio engraving from a picture in the possession of Capel Lofft, who in the preface to his edition of the Paradise Lost, published at Bury St. Edmunds in 1792, in describing the edition of 1674, with the portrait by W. Dolle, says: " Whatever harshness there may be in the style of 181 "the engraving, even to a degree of rudeness, there appear strokes of " a characteristic resemblance. It seems to me to be from an original " which was bequeathed to my father by Col. Holland, on which lines- " of Latin verses were inscribed beneath the scroll; Inclytus et Falias " Patriam can be pretty plainly traced : the rest is lost, and I fear irre- " coverably. Mr. Stevenson of Norwich had this picture to copy, as he is "always warm in the interests of genius and humanity." I cannot imagine what possible relationship Mr. Lofft could trace between this portrait and Dolle's, which is a copy, and not a very unfaithful one of Faithorne's Engraving. With the latter however Lofft appears from other passages in his preface to have been unacquainted. To those who can believe that the portrait now under discussion represents Milton at all, the fact that Peter Vander Plas, to whom it is attributed, died in 1626, when Milton was 18 years of age, will probably present a minor difficulty. The figure appearing in a beam of light entering at the upper right hand corner of the engraving, and probably representing the Eisen Saviour, may have suggested the idea of the portrait being that of the author of Paradise Regained. This emblem and the Pilgrim's staff and bottle, which form so prominent an object in the print, would be equally appropiate to Bunyan, to whom the features bear, at least, as much resemblance as they do to Milton ; but if Vander Plas was the painter, this suggestion is as impossible as the other ; and for our purpose the question of who the original was is of little importance if he was not Milton. The engraving may be described as: 156. Milton. P. V. Plas fecit. Drawn and engraved by G. Quinton, from an original picture in the possession of Capel Lofft, Esq. Published August 1st, 1707, by W. Stevenson, Norwich, for G. Quiuton, engraver, and sold by Messrs. Boydell. A rectangle 8| x 7 inches. Below the figure is a scroll, showing in a legible stale part of the Latin words quoted by Mr. Lofl't; and below, in rude Roman letters, P.V. PLAS Fee. 157. Milton (from a picture by Plas.) Drawn on stone by M. Gauci, Esq. Printed by F. Moser. An enlarged copy in folio of the head from the preceding print. PORTRAIT IN DE. WILIIAMS'S LIBBAHT. 158. John Milton. Drawn by J. Thnrston. Engraved by J. T. Wedgwood, from a picture by Dobson in Dr. Williams's Library. London, March 1, 1820, published by W. Walker. A coarse featured, heavy looking man, of middle age, with flowing hnir and brond Genevan band, but no trace of Milton's features. The 182 original picture, of the history of which nothing is known at the library, is not quite so repulsive as the engraving.* Todd mentions the name of Dobson in connection with another portrait which, has also been attributed to Eiley. PIE'S PRINT. 159. John Milton. Painted by C. Janssen! Engraved by Charles Pye. Lon don, published for the proprietor, March 1823. The print represents a young man, of upwards of 20, in a lace cravat of the time of Queen Anne. I am not aware in what publication the engraving appeared probably some general biographical work: for I have met with uniform portraits of Locke, Louis xvi, Pitt, Sydney, Thurlow, Washington &c. PAGE'S PKIHT. 100. Milton. Engraved by K. Page from an original painting. In a suspended frame with ornamental corners. I know nothing of its history; and its importance is not such as to challenge much enquiry. THE FALCONEB MINIATUBE. The history of this portrait is contained in the pages of Notes and Queries. In vol. II, 2nd series, p. 231, Mr. Jones, of Nantwich, had mentioned a tradition that one of the two pictures enumerated in the testamentary inventory of the effects of Milton's widow had passed on her decease to a young Oxonian student named Wilbraham, of Townsend, in Nantwich. The evidence already given identifies Mrs. Milton's pictures with the Janssen and Ouslow portraits too clearly to leave room for belief in the tradition referred to by Mr. Jones : but his note gave rise to another from Thomas Falconer, Esq., of Usk, printed at p. 303 of the same volume, in which he states that the exquisitely finished portrait of Milton, from which the engraving was made which is published in the series of portraits of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge a * Since the reading of die paper, I have met with a small volume, entitled " Effigies " Poeticee ; or, The Portraits of the British Poets, illustrated by Notes, Biographical, " Critical and Poetical," London (Carpenter) 1824, which appears to be a reprint of the letter-press descriptions accompanying a series of engraved portraits. " No. 56, John " Milton, from a picture by Dobsou in Dr. Williams' Library," surely refers to the present portrait, but the estimate there given of its merits is very different from that above ex pressed. " We have here given," it says, " a resemblance of Milton which has never " before been made public. It is as well authenticated, perhaps better, than such pictures " usually are; but it fails in some few respects, like all others. Nevertheless, there is " something characteristic in it. There is an approach to sweetness and majesty, (both " of which Milton possessed in no common degree,) that we do not recollect elsewhere. " The eye-brow is contracted, like that of a thinker ; the glance is penetrating, yet raised; " the mouth wears a sweet expression; atsd the hair flows down upon the shoulders, and " gives a massy character to the whole that is uot without its grandeur." 183 painting on vellum belonged to his grandfather, a son of Mr. Falconer, recorder of Chester, \vhose wife was born in ] 703, and was a daughter of Mr. Wilbraham of Townsend. He adds, however, that he knows of no fact to identify this miniature with the portrait mentioned by Mr. Jones ; and states his belief that it was never in the possession of the Wilbraham family. Mr. Falconer's history of the miniature offers no ground for ani madversion ; but contains nothing to connect it with Milton : and the Society which publicly adopted it as a portrait of him may share with their publisher the credit of having diffused the useful knowledge that their engraving is " from a miniature of the same size by Faithorne! anno " 1667 ! !" To judge from the engraving, Mr. Falconer's praises of the miniature, as a work of art, are well deserved ; but the young gentleman it represents had certainly not numbered half of Milton's years at the date attributed to it, and, when Milton was of the age there represented, Faithorne was in his boyhood: nor was he at any period of his life a miniature painter. If therefore the above name and date are found on the miniature, they are a clumsy forgery; but it is not stated by Mr. Fal coner that there is any lettering on it. Faithorne, as we have seen, is the common vouchee of Milton portraits ; and the date of 1667 may have been suggested by Pickering's engraving of 1826 (No. 82) in which, as I took occasion to explain, the figures had no reference to the date of any picture. The engravings are as follows : 161. John Milton. Engraved by T. Woolnoth from a miniature of the same size by Faithorne, anno 1667, in the possession of William Falconer, Esq. An oval, 2'6 x 2 1, within a shaded rectangle. Published under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 162. lohn Milton. Engraved by Samuel Freeman from a miniature by Faithorne, anno 1667. Published by Archibald Fullarton & Co., Glasgow ; in Cunningham's Lives of Eminent and Illustrious Englishmen, 8 vols. 8vo, Glasgow, 1835-7; an enlarged copy from the preceding. 163. John Milton. No name of engraver; rectangle, 2'0 x 2-1; a close copy of the society's print. 164. Milton. No name of engraver; rectangle, 2'1 x 1'G; in the same plate with Barrow, Pope and Defoe; published by Eoutledge & Co.; in Knight's Half- hours with the best Authors. I have now exhausted my list of portraits, having purposely excluded several prints which seemed to me scarcely to come under that denomination, 184 such as Vertue's plate of Milton between Homer and Virgil, mentioned by Granger- Sant's imaginary portrait Faed's large print of Milton in bis study and various others, in which he is represented as dictating to his daughter, or acting in the imaginary character of amanuensis to Cromwell. I have also abstained from inserting an etching by Hollar, of extreme rarity, of which there is a copy in the print room of the British Museum, going by the name of Milton. It represents a very youthful bust, which I can imagine no reason for supposing to be Milton ; and as it is unlettered, we have no right to class it among pseudo-portraits. That I have made some mistakes, and more omissons, I am prepared to find : but if my paper should receive the honor of being printed, it may serve as a text for the reception of additional information and corrections, which may enable me at some future period to reproduce it in a more perfect form. In the meantime, that I may not be guilty of any wilful omission, I conclude my list by enumerating a few prints, which I have found mentioned in various catalogues, &c., but which I have not had an opportunity of describing. Granger mentions " John Milton; a square print with a label under the " head, G. Vandergucht sc. neat;" and Bromley mentions it in similar terms. Wivell (Portraits of Shakespeare p. 234) mentions a print by Faber on a half-sheet with Shakespeare, Ben. Jonson and Samuel Butler, being one of the series published by John Bowles (See observations above on Simon's copy of the Faithorne print, No. 29 : both Simon and Faber seem to have been employed on Bowles's series ; and in some instances the same author appears engraved by both). Rodd's Catalogue of British Portraits, 1812, mentions an Svo print by Coster: and Evans's Catalogue describes a 4to print of Milton at four different ages; a rare print 12mo by Phinn ; and a folio by Gunst. Some of these may turn out to be prints already noticed, but which, for want of lettering, I have been unable to identify. From the account I have given of the number of existing portraits, mediately or immediately derived from a very few originals, it results that many having some claim to authenticity are probably still in existence. The history of the Janssen portrait happily needs no discussion; and I hope the doubts as to the recent history and present deposit of the Onslow portrait will shortly be set at rest. No mention has ever been made of any drawing for the purpose of the Marshal print. Faithorne's original, assuming it to have been the crayon drawing of which we have heard so 185 much, is last heard of in the possession of the Tonsons : for I must main tain, until actual inspection satisfies me to the contrary, that the idea of its having passed to Mr. Baker has arisen from confounding it with a copy from the White drawing, or Richardson's " excellent original in crayons." The copy so made may, perhaps, be yet in the collection at Bayfordbury; and the subsequent copies from it by Simpson for the engravings of Baker, Collyer and Dean are probably in the possession of the publishers of Todd's Milton. The " fexcellent original" itself, and the copy which I have con jectured to have been made from it for Vertue's 1750 engraving, are not traced beyond the Tonsons, nor, with certainty, even to them. Vertue's drawing for his 1725 engraving is traced by the inscription on Gardiner's print in Boydell's Milton (No. 79) to the possession of Mr. Brand Hollis ; and I hope it is still in the worthy custody of the inheritor of his literary treasures. The various drawings by Cipriani may be looked for in the same place; but I should be inclined to assign to them a much lower value. The drawing for Vandergucht's engraving (No. 89) has not been mentioned as having been preserved. Of Richardson's drawings many are probably in existence. Various others of the prints above described may possibly have been engraved from drawings taken specially for the purpose. I have avoided any discussion of the subject of original pictures and drawings, except such as necessarily arose out of my treatment of my subject; but a few lines may properly be devoted to the mention of such as I find noticed in the various works I have consulted. Some of them may be drawings the probable existence of which I have just been specu lating on; and others would only swell the list of pseudo-portraits; but even these may in some cases have been the subject of engravings which have escaped my notice, and on that account should be mentioned here to reduce the risk of accidental omission. It will require strong evidence to establish the authenticity of any beyond those I have mentioned ; and nothing but internal evidence can now be expected. The strongest case likely to be made out, so far as I have at present the means of judging (for I have not yet seen the picture), is one which has been kindly brought under my notice by Albert Way, Esq., whose ready help I should be most ungrateful if I did not warmly acknowledge. It is at Capesthorne, the seat of Arthur Davenport, Esq., by whose father it was bought at Lady Holland's sale, at Christie's, and was brought from Ampthill soon after 186 her death. It is inscribed JOHANNES MILTON EFFIG9 ANNO SAL8- MDCLXXIII ,ETATIS 65, and bears the name of Riley as the Painter inscribed on a stone pilaster. These particulars are from information obtained for me from the family by Mr. Way, who describes the picture, as a painting, with admiration, and as bearing the stamp of authenticity. It represents the poet blind, and caressing his dog. The name of Eiley is mentioned by Todd in connection with a portrait for which he expresses his obligations to a Mr. Charnock, and says it " has been " affirmed by some to have been a portrait of Milton by Dobson, but con- " jectured by others to have been a performance of Riley, who lived rather " too late to delineate Milton.* Some have supposed it may be a head of " his brother Christopher. It is, however, remarkable that Mr. Greenslade, " a collector of paintings, who resides in Bond Street, London, has a copy " of the very painting, which has been called a portrait of the Poet." An alleged miniature of Milton when young, which Warton mentions as in the possession of the Duchess of Portland, and describes as " having a face of " stern thoughtfulness, and to use the poet's expression, severe in youthful " beauty," was sold, along with an alleged miniature of his mother, at the sale of the Portland museum, in 1786, for £84. (See Gent. Mag., 1786, p. 527 ; Todd's Milton, I, p. 143, 146, ed. 1809.) In the same note Todd states that " at West Wycornb Manor House, in Buckinghamshire, there is " a fine portrait of Milton, supposed to be an original," (see Langley's Hist, and Antiq. of the Hund. of Deslorough, p. 417,) and that " Mr. Waldron " is in,possession of a painting which exhibits a likeness of the Poet in his " middle age." Mr. Mitford writes, " I once knew a portrait of Milton at " Lord Bruybrooke's, Audley end, in the gallery (with a beard): I also saw " one of him when young at Lord Towusheud's, at Eainham; but many " years have passed, and I cannot recollect any particulars. Charles Lamb, " Esq., possesses an original portrait, f left by his brother, and accidentally " bought in London. * * * I have heard that an original portrait of " Milton (about thirty years of age) has been discovered by Mr. E. Lemon " of the State Paper Office." (Pickering's Aldine Milton, p. xc, n.) An oil He was born in 1048. t Mr. Cunningham mentions it as " the Charles Lamb and Moxon portrait," and says " it is a striking likeness of the poet, and is an old picture, though there is no proof " that the poet ever sat for it." (Johnson's Lives, J, 131, a.) 187 painting, I presume that last mentioned, was exhibited by Mr. Lemon to the Society of Antiquaries on the 17th March, 1853, as reported in Gent. Mag., N.S., xxxix, 526, and was stilted to have formerly had the Poet's name in an old handwriting on the hack of the canvass, but removed on the relining of the picture a few years ago. To these notices I may add that I have seen a painting in the possession of Mr. Graves, the printseller, from which I imagine the head in Faed's print to have been drawn ; and Mr. Way mentions to me a life size portrait, in oils, formerly belonging to his father, at 'his seat, Stansted Park, Sussex, but which on the sale of the property was handed over to the purchaser in consequence of its forming one of a series of literary portraits partly inlaid in the paneled wainscot. Upwards of ten years ago the same obliging correspondent mentioned to me a painting, attributed to Walker, formerly belonging to Sir Joseph Banks, and now belonging to Archdeacon Bonney, of Lincoln.* Of busts, besides those I have mentioned, one in marble by Scheemaker, for Dr. Mead, and bought at his sale by Mr. Buncombe for £11 11s., is stated in Hollis's Memoirs to have been copied exactly from the plaister bust. A marble bust in the print room of the British Museum bears a strong resemblance to the features of the White portrait. A paragraph in the Athenaeum of 10th August, 1850, mentions the purchase by Mr. Labouchere, for 200 guineas, of a marble bust of Milton, made, it is said, An exhibition of miniatures baa been held by the Archaeological Institute since the reading of the paper ; and Mr. Way mentions to me two miniatures tjiere exhibited; one of them, belonging to Mr. Russell, the accountant-general, I imagine from the description to be a copy of the Ouslow portrait; the other, exhibited by the Duke of Buccleugh, described as a young portrait, with light brown hair and falling band, and inscribed "John Milton by Cooper,1' I do not identify, from the description given me, with any portrait I know. A sale catalogue of Messrs. Chinnock and Galsworthy (18th June, 1860) includes an alleged portrait of Milton by James Houseman. To collect the notices of pretended Milton portraits from sale catalogues and similar sources would, however, be an endless and useless task. The notorious old /incke, of Wind mill Street, Lambeth, whose name is so familiar in connection with the Talma Shakes peare, is stated by a correspondent of Notes and Queries ('ind S., X, l^ii) to have " died " about twenty-five years since, and left behind him about twenty portraits of Shakespeare " and Milton The illustrations of the paper on the Milton portraits are numbered, in error, III, IV and V respectively: for III read IV; for IV read V; and for V read VI.